Installation July/August 2018 Digital Edition

Issue 213 /July-August 2018

AV INTEGRATION IN A NETWORKED WORLD

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Changing the narrative Our Digital Signage Summit Europe review

Keep control rooms simple Balancing complex functionality with ease of use

Bose plays The O2 We hear the new PA-VA system at this major venue

All the winners from our glittering ceremony p6

CORE TECHNOLOGIES The role of AV in storytelling and experience creation

PERFORMANCE ART

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‘It’s astounding how quickly these developments became the norm’

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A

fter 11 years, 127 issues of Installation (or Installation Europe as it was until 2011), around 40 issues of the ISE Daily, four employers (or is it five?) and three offices, the time has come for me to move on. Frankly, I’m more than a little amazed to have lasted this long.

Numerous changes, both in AV and publishing, have taken place during my stint in this editor’s chair. On the AV side, there’s been – to name a few – the analogue sunset and the rise of digital technology; ever-shrinking LED display pitches and LCD bezels; the muchdiscussed phenomenon of AV-IT convergence; audio protocol wars; the rise of unified communications and desktop conferencing; laser light sources for projectors; and the stuttering emergence of OLED. There’s also been a steady stream of mergers and acquisitions Paddy Baker, Editor as the industry matures. The most powerful example is AMX, which paddy.baker@futurenet.com was on the acquisition trail in the latter part of the last decade, @install8ion getting snapped up by Harman (along with SVSi, Duran Audio, Martin Professional and others), which was itself acquired by Samsung.

On the media side, it’s the world of online, in all its various manifestations, that has driven the most change. Back in 2007 we only published the odd web story and an occasional newsletter; the phrase ‘social media’ had yet to gain currency (we joined Twitter in 2009); and the iPad had only just emerged into the world, to cries of ‘But it’s just a big iPhone…’.

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

In all of these things, it’s astounding how quickly these developments became the norm. And change keeps accelerating – so we’re likely to see even more spectacular tech over the next 11 years.

I came to this job with a fairly basic knowledge of the AV industry, and have learned so much along the way. I’ve always tried to retain a natural curiosity, and to answer the questions that I thought you, the readers, wanted to ask. Thank you to everyone from the industry who has helped me add to my store of knowledge. Thank you also to all my wonderful colleagues past and present, too numerous to list here.

I think the thing I’m most grateful for has been the opportunity to travel so widely, in Europe and further afield, to see so many inspiring installation projects and meet the people responsible for them. I think I’ve notched up visits to 18 countries in this job, including some that I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to go to otherwise, including Russia, Ukraine and China.

I’m pleased to say that I’m not leaving the AV industry. From August, I’ll be working for ISE in a content marketing role. I’m looking forward to joining the team behind the most important show in the industry – one that has grown steadily ever since its launch in 2004. And my connection with the ISE Daily will continue, albeit from the other side of the fence.

As you read this, you will probably have heard ISE’s announcement about its long-term plans. I look forward to the challenge of helping to develop and deliver them.

04 CONTENTS

July/August 2018

16 Special Report: AV and experiences 22

Are you experienced?

The emergence of ‘exceptional experiences’ as the raison d’être for the AV industry is already having a positive impact during this current period of transition

22

48

Viewpoints

Solutions

10 Opinion

34 Haymarket Theatre, Leicester

Rob Lane on the importance of acoustics in demo rooms David Shamir reveals the benefits of all-IP AV systems Amanda Beckner provides advice on professional development and certification 16 Interview Datapath’s Bjorn Krylander discusses the video over IP revolution and the company’s international expansion 50 Last Word Albert Van Der Hout on the evolution of PA-VA systems and the rise of VACIE

A specially convened consortium and installation company have reawakened this regional theatre with a multi-faceted sound system 36 The Institute of Chartered Accountants, London The flagship space of this historic, Grade II listed building has been transformed into a modern and versatile venue 38 Solutions in Brief Including a Times Square retail install; an AVB system reconfiguration; and integrated control at the world’s fifth tallest building

28 The rise of storytelling

As digital storytelling continues to permeate more and more verticals, the AV industry is in a position to make the most of this user experience revolution

32

Industry Events 06 Install Awards: all this year’s winners 18 Show Reviews: InfoComm 2018 and DSS Europe 2018

Technology 43 New Products Including Christie, Peerless-AV, Biamp and ClearOne

Contributors: Amanda Beckner, Rob Lane, Ian McMurray, David Shamir, Albert Van Der Hout Special thanks: Toni Wong, Inge Govaerts Cover Image: The Calvados Experience - courtesy of Sarner

Feature

46 Showcase

32 Control rooms

48 Demo of the Month

We look at the impact the rise of KVM solutions and IP infrastructures is having on the balance between functionality and operation in control rooms

Short-throw projectors Bose ShowMatch line arrays

06 INSTALL AWARDS 2018

July/August 2018

Celebrating excellence To bring up half a decade of the Install Awards, the formula this year was tweaked slightly and the total number of awards nudged up to 17. The focus was still very much on celebrating the best projects from the last 12 months and the people and technology central to their success. Enjoy our look back at a memorable night

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his year’s event was on the 28th June at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel with comedian Jimmy McGhie returning as host.

To make the fifth edition of the Install Awards extra special, we managed to persuade FIFA to schedule England’s final World Cup group game to be played during dinner. While it wasn’t England’s night at the Kaliningrad Stadium, there were plenty of winners once the ceremony

started with awards split into four categories: Project Excellence, Technology Excellence, Company Excellence, and Hall of Fame.

A big thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this event so enjoyable and everyone from the industry who celebrated with us.

www.installawards.com

Thank you to our partners Red carpet partner

Category partner

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INSTALL AWARDS 2018

07

08 INSTALL AWARDS 2018

July/August 2018

d&b Soundscape – and a feast for the senses.

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10 OPINION: ON THE AGENDA

July/August 2018

Rob Lane Acoustic excuses Why sound should trump aesthetics

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his month, I’m going to finish my triptych of residential-facing columns with a look at acoustics and how important it is to demo rooms. Whether you’re selling highend hi-fi (perhaps incorporating Roon – see last issue), or home cinema, acoustics is a crucial component in helping clients make that big-money purchase decision. Surprising, then, that it is often overlooked.

Every AV retailer must surely be aware that room acoustics have a considerable bearing on performance, so it’s surprising to learn that many don’t pay it enough respect, or get it right even when they do.

“Unbelievably, acoustics is an often neglected part of the demo room design process,” Emma Bigg, founder/director at acoustic-savvy AV consultancy Octavius RE, tells me. “This is almost always due to lack of understanding. People simply aren’t doing their homework!”

Chris Adair, founder and managing director of Adair Acoustic, agrees: “Not only do some retailers have no idea whatsoever what makes a decentsounding room, when they do attempt to build a demo facility they often end up with something that sounds ‘dead’ or ‘uncomfortable’, or ‘killed the image’! The thing is, it might not be easy to do, but it’s not rocket science so there’s really no excuse.”

Looks win out Of course, it’s important that demo rooms look appealing, so aesthetics often trump sound quality as a result.

“Frequently looks win out and demo rooms are often constructed on a wing and a prayer that the acoustics will turn out fine – and of course they don’t,” says Adair.

A regular and convenient excuse for bad acoustics, according to Adair, is the clichéd argument that customers aren’t likely to have great acoustic spaces, so why bother making the demo room sound brilliant? This, he says, is lazy and complete nonsense.

“Demonstrate an awesome system in a great demo room and customers will be working out how they can get this experience in their own home. In a great-sounding demo room you are already off on the right foot, but if you start with a terrible acoustic environment then nothing will sound great.”

‘The key is not to create a real-life situation, it is to demonstrate the characteristics of the products’

Bigg agrees: “The key is not to create a real-life situation, it is to demonstrate the characteristics of the products. Besides, no living room, listening room or cinema room is the same as another – you couldn’t possibly recreate all of the variations. The skill to making the product sound good in the client’s real-world space is part of the after-sales service.

“Retailers should be looking to minimise any effects of the room so the customer is just hearing the product on demo. This allows customers to make an informed judgement about how products compare to more expensive alternatives.”

When it comes to home cinema, Bigg says, dealers should be looking to achieve the same acoustic standards as pro cinema – so very low reverberation time, no or minimal early reflections: “You should just be able to hear the speaker – very pure, very clean.”

“Of course home cinema is different,” adds Adair. “You have a great many speakers, all fighting to throw their sound at you. They are properly arranged: dialogue comes from a dialogue speaker, sounds from above come from speakers above – it’s quite simple.

“But to really suspend your disbelief, the room has to vanish acoustically – and so if you can achieve this, the experience is incredible.”

Broader application But acoustics isn’t just about hi-fi and home cinema demo rooms. While Adair mostly uses his knowledge of acoustics for residential AV, he can apply this knowhow to commercial installations too, recently working with a new chain of coastal restaurants. Bigg’s background in live music means that her acoustic skills are almost exclusively used in this sector – including recent work for London private members’ club Annabel’s.

Crucially, Adair and Bigg agree that it isn’t possible to transform a room’s acoustics with a tiny bit of treatment – it takes up space: typically 10-20% of surfaces. Fortunately, today’s treatments are rarely ugly or even obviously ‘visibly acoustic’, so needn’t compromise room aesthetics. And – particularly when it comes to demo rooms – aesthetics shouldn’t compromise sound quality in any case!

Rob Lane is owner/director of Bigger Boat PR.

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The Visionaries Choice

12

OPINION: ON THE AGENDA

July/August 2018

David Shamir The all-IP meeting space IP-centric AV systems for meeting rooms bring opportunities for integrators and end users

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he benefits of AV-over-IP integration are often associated with large installations for enterprises and other organisations.

However, there are also wide-ranging advantages for integrators and AV/IT customers when considering entirely IP-based system installations for individual meeting spaces.

In an all-IP meeting-room system, AV devices such as encoders, decoders and audio equipment are connected to the network. This simplifies integration by allowing the use of standard data network infrastructure.

An all-IP system design can be sized exactly to the quantity of inputs and outputs required for the application, rather than selecting a fixedconfiguration AV switcher. A system design built on networked encoders and decoders is very easy to duplicate across other rooms, and can also be adapted to various room sizes or requirements.

When considering multiple systems throughout a building or campus, going the all-IP route introduces further integration efficiencies through the use of centralised control processing, videoconferencing and DSP resources to serve multiple room systems.

An IP-based meeting room system easily interconnects into a centralised LAN with other rooms, facilities and buildings. The result is powerful: wide-ranging opportunities to share content between rooms, serve overflow spaces, facilitate company-wide presentations and on-demand training sessions, and so much more.

AV over IP can also solve some communication challenges that otherwise would not be feasible.

Flexibility and reliability Another key benefit of IP as the AV distribution infrastructure is the relative ease of planning for

future considerations, such as bringing in new systems and upgrading existing installations. By planning ahead and integrating AV systems over networks, you’re also ready to re-engage with your customers down the line with cost-effective opportunities to enhance or expand their AV communication capabilities.

AV-over-IP integration offers yet another important advantage as compared to traditional systems: the ability to provide operational redundancy. Depending on the system architecture and equipment specified, a networked AV system

‘AV over IP can also solve some communication challenges that otherwise would not be feasible’

design can afford the opportunity to build in redundancy and automatic failover, ensuring continuous AV communications even in the event of an unexpected malfunction or connectivity issue.

The decision to integrate AV systems over a facility’s IP network infrastructure also provides the customer and the integrator with a powerful opportunity to manage all AV operations centrally.

IP-based AV systems can be integrated easily and seamlessly into an AV asset management resource, to be accessed, monitored and managed from a web-based portal. This approach also enables system integration to be streamlined by configuring a system and then duplicating the configuration across similar systems in the facility.

Once AV integration is completed, the same AV asset management resource can be used by IT admins and technicians to maintain AV operations.

Additional benefits There are many other advantages in an all-IP world of interconnected meeting room AV systems.

• AV system standardisation: IP-based systems are easy to standardise across an organisation, even worldwide for multinational enterprises.

• Simplify inventory requirements: For dealers, it’s just a matter of stocking encoders, decoders and network switches.

• Streamline control-system integration: No matter how large or small the system might be, system control is always integrated through the command set or API for the encoder and decoder.

• System upgrading: IP is the logical path for adding new capabilities to an existing AV installation, or planning a complete system overhaul. Networked AV systems over gigabit Ethernet easily allow upgrades with existing network cable plants.

The migration of AV signal distribution from traditional circuit-based switching to IP networks isn’t just about adopting newer technology; it also ties in with the need to facilitate open collaboration and content sharing. This necessitates AV systems that are flexible and ready to respond to the everchanging demands of workers and organisations for effective communication.

David Shamir is director, product management at Atlona.

www.atlona.com

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14 OPINION: ON THE AGENDA

July/August 2018

Amanda Beckner The value of certification Why AV organisations should commit to professional development – and how AVIXA can help them

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or more than 30 years, individuals, companies and customers within the AV industry have recognised the Certified Technology Specialist designation for its credibility and integrity. Certification is known as evidence of technical proficiency and professionalism, showing commitment to continual development and improvement. These are values that increase consumer confidence in an AV service provider’s competency, experience and ethical behaviour.

‘AVIXA is constantly updating its training and refreshing the context around it’

Not only is CTS respected worldwide, it is the only AV certification with ISO/IEC 17024:2012 accreditation. This means many architects, general contractors and others require their AV designers or systems integrators to employ individuals who hold the CTS credential. Others give preference to AV companies that employ CTS holders, because of its value and mark of high-quality service.

A true certification programme assesses individuals against peer-developed standards and competencies, and provides a credential that is time limited. A certification exam assessment must be independent of any specific course or curriculum.

In addition, continued competency is enhanced through ongoing renewal requirements, and there must be adherence to a code of ethics. AVIXA is

constantly updating its training and refreshing the context around it, to ensure the learning experience is rooted in creating exceptional experiences that support end users’ desired outcomes.

Don’t reinvent the wheel Of course, there are other forms of training taking place in the industry, often carried out by manufacturers and integrators. I view the industry’s sources of professional development as complementary, not competitive, in supporting the AV workforce. But manufacturers and integrators need not reinvent the wheel. Time and again, I meet a marketing or AV operations professional working for a manufacturer or integrator and tasked to create a training programme from scratch. Why? The company could just license AVIXA’s vendor-neutral, industry-validated content and work from that. Then, energy could be spent on adding what makes their company’s solutions unique in the marketplace, rather than reinventing lessons on AV fundamentals.

For consultants advising clients on solutions that achieve their business outcomes, AVIXA offers training to help define systems performance metrics and standard processes to ensure exceptional experiences. Elite AVIXA members also have access to search and use online education for just the lessons they need.

AVIXA has a wide variety of audiences, and personalisation is a huge trend in adult learning. It is challenging to personalise the learning experience for each of the professional disciplines, competency levels, and geographic regions that AVIXA serves.

The association is meeting those challenges by designing a modularised curriculum that can be disseminated via different delivery methods; by

investing in learning content management solutions to codify content; by improving processes for more effective translation and localisation; and by offering a new service to Elite members – allowing them to search for and utilise the online learning module they need.

Industry standards Beyond training, there is the difficult yet rewarding experience of developing industry standards.

AVIXA is the leading resource for AV performance and documentation standards. Our standards are balanced and open, so everyone in the AV industry can benefit from incorporating them into their projects. These standards support technology design and procedures that focus on reliability, competency and success. The development process involves groups that work cooperatively to develop voluntary national consensus standards. AVIXA’s Board of Directors established a Standards Committee in 2006 to start working on performance standards. Each standard lists the names of the volunteers who authored it. I encourage anyone to reach out to peers who are using standards and ask about their experience and what they gained from it. Also, there are other advisory opportunities for consultants, and I invite you to contact me for details.

Information on AVIXA’s diverse training offerings – including CTS – can be found on the association’s website.

Amanda Beckner CTS is vice president of learning at AVIXA.

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16 INTERVIEW: BJORN KRYLANDER, DATAPATH

July/August 2018

Moving up the gears

The CEO of Datapath talks to Paddy Baker about growing the business internationally, the video over IP revolution and why working in pro AV is preferable to the mobile phone industry

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atapath was founded in 1982 as a manufacturer of computer graphics products for mini computers, and later for PCs. Company milestones included multi-display solutions for financial trading desks in the mid-1990s, the company’s first graphics cards for videowalls in 2000, and its first video streaming software in 2003.

Today it is best known for its controllers for videowalls and multiple displays, video capture and graphics cards, and its video streaming and compression technologies.

Expansion In his eight years as CEO, perhaps the most obvious thing that Bjorn Krylander has brought

to Datapath is expansion. “We’re now about three times the size in every respect – in terms of people or money,” he says. “When I joined, the whole company was in Derby.” Now, not only has the company moved to much larger premises in that city, but it has opened sales offices in the US, Japan, France and China, and has grown its sales presence elsewhere, including the Middle East, eastern Europe and other parts of Asia including Singapore and South Korea. “We try to get closer to our customers, provide them better support, and obviously we continue to grow the company and increase sales,” he explains.

The US office is located in Philadelphia because the company bought out a successful distributor, DN Nye, in 2014. “We figured that

they were almost exclusively selling Datapath products and they were very much working as an extension of our own sales team – so the natural conclusion of that was to bring them within Datapath.”

The company has also created a regional sales presence within the US – “moving the sales team close to the customers,” as Krylander puts it. “The total sales volume for videowall systems is much bigger in North America than it is in Europe. Our market share there is okay, but it’s much greater in Europe. We really want to make it a more even balance, so our growth opportunity is clearly considerable still in North America.”

Does he find the sales process differs in

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A brief biography Bjorn Krylander holds an MSc in electronic engineering from Lund University in Sweden He spent 14 years at Ericsson, rising to the role of VP and GM of the home communications business unit He was CEO at UbiNetics, the UK 3G innovator, which was acquired in 2005, and then at microwave company Cambridge Broadband Networks. He has also worked as a management consultant He joined Datapath as CEO in 2010 different regions of the world? While clearly there are big differences between, say, the US and Japan, he prefers to focus on the commonalities: “Qualifying the opportunities we’re put in front of, understanding the real substance behind them, whether the new customer you’re talking to has got a real need and has got the financing to support what they are trying to do. You put your resources to best use by focusing on real opportunities, which actually can yield some sales.

“What’s perhaps less universal is the way you talk to customers and what resonates with customers. Obviously American people are a lot more willing to take risks and try things out, while in Japan one analyses things to the nth degree before one commits. Once you have worked through all the potential risks and issues, you are generally off making quick progress in Japan. You put a lot of effort in upfront, but you get a customer that is willing to work with you for a long time to come.”

Video over IP Video over IP is a trend that he wants Datapath to be part of. ”We launched our SQX technology for IP streaming directly to videowall controllers two years ago. We have primarily offered decode solutions to date: the ability to decode CCTV cameras, and other types of video streams, directly onto the controller makes that a very scalable solution… But in the next year you’ll probably see a lot more of the encode-type solutions from Datapath, where display controllers will communicate with each other, and share content, making for a much more fluid user experience. Content will be available where it’s needed independently of what the source video format is, transported to where it’s required and can be consumed with much less effort where it’s required.” The mantra, he says, is “anything, anywhere”.

Datapath is not a member of the SDVoE Alliance “at the moment,” although “we have certainly been considering joining and using the

INTERVIEW: BJORN KRYLANDER, DATAPATH technology.” He doesn’t want to share many specifics, but adds: “There will be a range of products from Datapath in the area of video distribution over IP eventually – and some of those may be SDVoE compatible as well.”

He sees the rise of IP video as causing considerable industry disruption. “The whole area of IP is fundamentally changing how video systems will be built in the future. The ability to route video to and consume video in a much more fluid way will be greatly enhanced for users. It will be much easier to build networks eventually.” However, he says it remains to be seen “who the industry leaders will be, and which technologies win the battle eventually. It will put the industry in for some quite major change.”

Another significant development for Datapath is “investing a lot in the application side of things. We want to make our display controllers more useful in more environments.”

He mentions two specific examples here. The first is a plug-in software module that connects Datapath’s display controllers to Milestone’s VMS software for CCTV systems – and this, he says, “is clearly an area where we are likely to continue to put in effort”.

‘If you set up your own new company in the pro AV industry, you can create new products and there will always be someone who buys them’

The second is Quant application-sharing software, where “we’re going to invest in building a better collaboration solution and interactive solution based on what we have done with Quant already.”

Can he see Datapath broadening its reach into more applications in the future? KVM is a possibility, he says: “If you connect a KVM system and the display controller often used in command and control environments, it’s quite possible to decode the KVM video stream from a source computer direct into our controller, instead of converting its source to video and then capturing that and putting it back into the display controller. I think that’s a likely development, but we’ll see more development for specific interfaces – KVM systems, video distribution systems and so forth – so we can interact more directly with them.

“The benefit of that is twofold: you reduce the cost of the total system solution because conversion between IP stream to video and back into a display controller is quite costly per stream; but you also have much better direct control putting a particular source in a particular place.”

17

Software focus Does the direction of the industry mean a greater emphasis on software at the expense of hardware? “Absolutely. Our software team is twice the size of our hardware team, but as we jokingly say, the hardware team is only half software and the software team is only software. So the vast majority of what we do is software today, although some of it is strongly hardware related.”

Given that Krylander has worked across a number of tech industries during his career, I ask him how pro AV compares with other tech sectors. “The pro AV industry is a very nice industry… It’s a fairly fragmented industry. The financial view of that is that there is opportunity for consolidation – but from my point of view it also means that there’s a lot of innovation.

There’s a lot of small companies with new ideas and it’s fairly easy to get a hearing. If you set up your own new company in the pro AV industry, you can create new products and there will always be someone who buys them. It’s a very nice environment to be in, where there’s many things being tried and many opportunities are being created.”

He draws a parallel with the mobile phone industry in the late 1980s, when he started out as an engineer with Ericsson. “But now it’s all been consolidated into basically Android and iPhone – you’re one or the other, and they’re very similar. Innovation there is quite limited at the moment; while things are moving forward, it’s in a very linear way. I prefer the pro AV industry by far.”

Outside work, Krylander is a keen cyclist. As chance would have it, one of the UK’s seven velodromes is just two miles from the Datapath office. ”We generally take anyone who wants to go for a spin on the velodrome once or twice a year.

And I’m sure we’ll be doing it this summer. I’m a big fan of it, but I haven’t managed to get too many of my colleagues to join me on the track.

“There are quite a few of us here at Datapath who ride bicycles as a leisure activity. I’m afraid to say I’m by far the worst, doing it the most intensely. I think that no one would dispute that. “ He has also been known to bring his bike with him on business trips. “I took the bike with me and went out with the local ‘chain gang’ in Orlando last summer. If you’ve got the opportunity to go out with the locals, you not only get a lot of exercise and good fresh air, but you also get to meet people and see the city or the environment around it. I guess it’s similar to going for a run if you’re travelling in cities – but you do meet more people if you can join up with a local cycling club.”

www.datapath.co.uk

18 SHOW REVIEW: INFOCOMM 2018

July/August 2018

The other kind of networking All trade shows are about networking, but two announcements about AV networking stole the limelight at InfoComm 2018. Paddy Baker reports

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wo announcements took place at InfoComm that could prove extremely significant to the AV networking community.

The potential use of Dante for video received a major boost with the announcement that Audinate had joined the SDVoE Alliance; and the Avnu Alliance, the body behind AVB-TSN, announced the new Milan protocol.

As well as becoming a contributing member of the SDVoE Alliance, Audinate has been collaborating with the Alliance on an integrated AV control environment. Both organisations’ InfoComm stands featured demonstrations of Dante Controller managing SDVoE signal routing.

“Overall, adding video-over-IP to our audio-over-IP platform is an important part of our strategy moving forward,” said Lee Ellison, CEO of Audinate. “We consistently hear from our customers that they want to manage their ‘A’ and ‘V’ together, whether that’s routing streams through Dante Controller, or using the security and monitoring capabilities of Dante Domain Manager. The partnership with SDVoE is an important first step in making this a reality for our customers.”

Justin Kennington, president of the SDVoE Alliance, told us: “The exciting thing about Audinate’s membership of the SDVoE Alliance is that it opens the door to interesting new (potentially very tight) forms of integration of the two technologies.”

Other companies have brought out video over Dante products but, Kennington pointed out, these have just been individual products. “To me, the position of SDVoE in the market is a much clearer match to the position of Dante. Both technologies rely on an interoperable hardware layer and a common control API to enable manufacturers to produce a really broad ecosystem of welldifferentiated hardware and software products. In

other words, SDVoE, like Dante, is not a product, but a platform upon which the AV industry can build the next generation of applications. To me, this was the biggest impact Dante had on the market, and it reflects SDVoE’s position well.”

The partnership isn’t exclusive, however, Ellison explained: “Since SDVoE is the leader in the 10G video-over-IP space, it was natural to work with them first, while at the same time we recognise there are a number of different applications and verticals when it comes to video-over-IP that will require us to work with different partners and codecs as well.”

Ellison is confident about the potential market for video over Dante: “At a high level, market research from industry analysts shows that the addressable market for video over IP is the same size or greater than the market for audio over IP, so we are bullish on the opportunity. The feedback we received at InfoComm was very positive and supports this view.”

Milan InfoComm also saw the announcement by the Avnu Alliance of the Milan networking protocol. It builds on AVB standards and is described as the first fully realised, standards-based protocol built for deterministic, interoperable, future-proof media networking in the pro AV market. Supporting all types of media, Milan is an open, deterministic network protocol, ensuring on-time delivery of audio, video and data, while co-existing with other Ethernet traffic without risk of dropouts or degradation of media.

Audio consultant Roland Hemming, who has been critical of the Avnu Alliance in the past, commented on his blog: “Having met with most of the Milan creators, I think, or at least I hope, they know this will not be the audio networking protocol to take over the world. Milan offers AVB features that

frankly should have been there in the first place. It’s a welcome addition to help AVB offer a robust, highperformance local audio network.”

He continued: “You still require AVB compliant switches… Until there is significant adoption of AVB switches by the IT industry then we are wasting our time. AV professionals often cannot dictate the switch to be used for a mixed-use network. If you choose to run a network purely for AV, then this mostly defeats the point of the benefits that AVB offers.”

Josh Srago, an AV designer at consultancy TEECOM, wrote on the AV Nation blog that Milan’s foundation on IEEE standards gives scope for integration beyond the world of AV: “It’s not just the audiovisual industry that shows up to the TSN conference offered by the Avnu Alliance.

Manufacturing, automation, network engineers, and more have attended these conferences to discuss how an IEEE networking standard can benefit their businesses. When discussing with an IT manager what type of network signals the audiovisual hardware will be putting on their network, there is an incredible advantage to being able to drop an 802.1 standard on their desk as a response. It’s what they know and understand.

“By having a standard that any manufacturer of any industry can adopt that doesn’t require a proprietary chipset, and then adding the application software to control any devices connected to that system, AVB/TSN is making itself capable of replacing BACNetIP and becoming the central platform for interoperability.”

www.avnu.org www.rhconsulting.eu www.sdvoe.org www.audinate.com www.teecom.com

The IP KVM People

20 SHOW REVIEW: DSS EUROPE

July/August 2018

Our digital half-dozen It’s impossible to cover a packed two-day event like Digital Signage Summit Europe in a couple of pages.

So here are six key points that Paddy Baker took from this year’s event, which was held in Munich

O

pening this year’s Digital Signage Summit Europe, conference chair Florian Rotberg of invidis consulting explained that it had moved from its usual base of Munich because of the FIFA World Cup. With 4-5 July offering a rare two-day match-free window, many events had been organised for these dates; pressure on event space in Munich had compelled invidis and joint venture partner Integrated Systems Events to cast the net wider. The new venue, the Sheraton at Frankfurt Airport, proved to be an excellent location for this well-established event.

This year’s Summit was entitled ‘Digital Storytelling – Changing the Narrative with Digital Signage’. It provided fascinating and detailed insights into how the digital signage (DS) and digital out of home (DOOH) markets are developing and the new and inventive ways technology is being applied, particularly in terms of enhancing the customer journey and the overall customer experience. From the diversity of voices and opinions over the two days, we’ve drawn out six major threads.

1. The market is changing in various ways Rotberg noted that last year saw more than 100 mergers or acquisitions. As the market matures, full-service integrators are acquiring companies to increase the geographic complexity of their offering, while IT system integrators are buying

expertise to increase their solution complexity.

However, he warned that “it’s the end of the ideal world for most full-service integrators” who “make money… from deployment and operations and also concept”. They face a choice: “Either you grow big – and that means really big – or you need to specialise.” Additionally, a weakness of many integrators is their inability to “industrialise”. In the past, every small project was different, but for multinational rollouts of thousands of screens, “Everything needs to be professional, every process needs to be defined – industrialisation is so essential.”

‘Either you grow big – and that means really big – or you need to specialise’

2. New types of companies are becoming involved Rotberg noted that “a lot of global players are entering the market through the back door”. Taking the German car market as an example, he noted that the main brands’ signage contracts are all

with professional service firms such as Accenture, PwC and Deloitte. They have no specific DOOH experience but subcontract to signage integrators.

Another significant new player – which “two years ago no-one would have thought of” – is an IT finance company called Econocom, which has acquired three leading Spanish DS companies since February 2017. “They can add something that most system integrators cannot add right now – they are big, they have finance power, and they can change the screens more often.” The company does this by providing new displays to its biggest customers after a couple of years (rather than five or so) and remarketing the old ones elsewhere.

Subsidiaries or special agencies of global advertising and marketing groups are likely to be the next market consolidator. Currently these companies are subcontracting their DS requirements to specialists, but soon will be taking a “make or buy” decision, said Rotberg.

3. The importance of data “The industry has changed from Mad Men to Math Men… everything is driven by data,” said Rotberg in the opening keynote. “If you don’t know how to connect your digital touch points with ERP, with everything in the back office, you’re lost.”

With the increasing use of sensors, the role of data in DOOH is only going to grow. Chairing a

SHOW REVIEW: DSS EUROPE

www.installation-international.com

panel on sensors and artificial intelligence, Stefan Schiecker of ResultMC identified three uses for data from sensors: analysing historical data, using live data for real-time triggering, and making predictions from data, such as determining when queues are likely to build.

Panellist Andreas Biss of NEC commented that, when designing systems to play content based on the demographic make-up of people passing by, age and gender detection are not enough.

“Solving the problem of who will be relevant in two seconds’ time, when the current video stops playing, requires more technologies” – to understand walking patterns, for example. “Trying to understand people’s behaviour is very complex.”

Talking about DOOH in a multiscreen strategy, Hoss Khoravi of Visual Art sounded a note of caution about data. He said that he felt that a view expounded at a seminar he attended a couple of years ago, that out-of-home was useless without data about the person in front of the screen at that moment, went too far – that wasn’t an evolution of DOOH, it was turning it into something very different: he drew a parallel with Robocop.

He feels that his company, which is the only vendor in the Nordics that offers programmatic, has “a foot in the old way and the new way”. One example was a campaign for mobile provider Halebop, which sought to turn train delays into a positive thing by giving affected passengers extra free mobile data. This was done by running advertisements with a download code at relevant stations when delays had occurred.

4. More individualised, but not personal Real-time programmatic advertising can create a more individualised experience. One example given

by Richard Offermann – managing director, Ströer Digital Group – in his presentation on the customer journey, was an eBay campaign in shopping malls and railway stations that created time-limited offers based on current stock availability and the promotional activity of competitors.

However, this is still a one-to-many medium: “Really individualising it – recognising who is in front of the screen and then displaying a product for this individual person – might not be possible in a public area.” But it makes sense to think of target groups: as he pointed out, the people in the main Frankfurt station at 7:00 on a Monday morning and on a Saturday afternoon are two very different audiences.

So while knowing more about the audience is important, reach is still an important metric, said Peer Schmitz-Kuo of Media Frankfurt and Andreas Prasse of Wall (part of JCDecaux). With the proportion of the world’s population based in cities set to rise to 80% by 2050, and air traffic set to double in the next 25 years, the reach of displays in major city locations and airports will keep an upward trajectory.

5. The speed of change is increasing Both customer attitudes and the capabilities of technology are changing more quickly than ever.

In his keynote on ‘retail design meets digital’, Alastair Kean of retail experience agency Dalziel and Pow commented that “customers have changed more in the last five years than in the last 25. They’re more switched on, less loyal, more empowered, having the whole world at their fingertips… People are more immune [to advertising] and more sceptical, customers do the talking and the brands have to increasingly listen, and also be transparent and shareable.”

The speed of technological progress was discussed by Offermann. “The worst thing you can do predicting the future is taking the speed of growth at the moment and extrapolating it,” he said.

‘Customers have changed more in the last year than in the last 25’

He believes that as human beings, we find it difficult to “think exponentially into the future”.

This leads to what he calls the “exponential growth surprise factor” – the gap between steady progress and a quantum leap. One example he gave was the way that mobile phones have developed in recent years, adding cloud communication and heavy internet use to what was previously a fairly simple voice device.

6. Consider the physical space We shouldn’t forget that digital experiences take place in a physical environment, and the former should not obliterate the latter.

This point came out in two very different

21

presentations. In a wide-ranging keynote about ‘rebooting your personal future’, Raphael Gielgen, a futurist working for furniture company Vitra, cited an article by journalist Jen Murphy. After a stay in a very generic hotel, interacting with screens rather than people, she came to the conclusion that airbnb succeeds because it offers the personal touch that is missing from much high-tech hospitality. “airbnb locates people,” said Gielgen. “People want to be located – nobody wants a generic space experience… The duty of a physical space is to bring people together to have real human connections.”

Michael Luck Schneider of ESI Design presented some of his company’s media canvas projects that have “transformed buildings into experiences”, and described the very detailed processes for creating content to suit a space.

He said that most media displays in physical spaces present the viewer with a choice between “entering the world that lives on the other side that window – in which case why are you in that physical space anyway?” or ignoring it. Instead, ESI’s media displays, many of which are in corporate lobbies, are designed to support the space – enhancing the architecture, viewable from various distances, with content that matches the “speed” of the space.

Although these displays can cover a large area, it’s important not to be too dominant. He gave the example of a Denver installation with five LED columns which are 90ft high, but only about the width of a person across. From a distance they look like five slices of a single view, but close-up, each column is human-scale. “This could have been done as a single LED display,” he said, “but I don’t think it would feel very good to be a human being in this space, because the scale of it compared to you would have been overpowering.”

https://digitalsignagesummit.org/europe

22 SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES

July/August 2018

Key Points AVIXA’s strategy is both welcomed and applauded

For the most part, the industry agrees that ‘creating exceptional experiences’ is what it is best at

There are positive signs that AVIXA’s initiative is succeeding, so industry growth can be expected

Are you experienced?

The future of the AV industry will be well served as it transitions to becoming a provider of experiences

When InfoComm became AVIXA in September last year, it was more – much more – than a simple rebranding exercise. It was about the AV industry reinventing itself. Ian McMurray finds out more

H

ave you ever stopped to ask yourself: “What do we, the AV industry, actually do?” No: not hanging screens on walls or mounting loudspeakers in ceilings. And not what the digital signage industry does, or the meeting room industry does, or the visitor attractions industry does. What does the AV industry do as a whole?

In an environment where the AV business is potentially being eroded by the incursion of the IT industry, understanding what AV is and what it does has never been more critical – not just to defending the business, but to enlarging it.

It’s about identity. It’s about differentiation. It’s about mission.

It seems probable that those were at least some of the questions that InfoComm International, the previous name of the industry’s trade association, felt it needed to answer as it began to look at how it could best support its membership.

“AVIXA’s mission of communicating the value of AV through the experiences that AV delivers is an ongoing effort,” says Brad Grimes, senior director of communications for the organisation.

“It began in 2014 when we began making the case that an exceptional AV experience has to take into account more than just technology; it also requires the right combination of content and consideration for the space where the AV solution would be experienced. The effort continues today as AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, which reflects

our commitment to acting as a catalyst for market growth by underscoring how AV delivers value through integrated experiences. And: it will continue into the future.”

Not a gimmick “I was not only on the AVIXA board of directors when the initiative was conceived during our strategic planning process; I was also on the task force which engaged Chicago-based consultancy firm Gravity Tank to undertake the research which

‘The opportunity has never been bigger; the risk of doing nothing and carrying on in the old ways has never been greater’ Julian Phillips, Whitlock

produced the ‘exceptional experience’ programme,” adds Julian Phillips, executive vice president of US-based integrator Whitlock. “I can tell you, this is not a marketing gimmick. There has been some serious work done to understand the perspectives of a broad range of customers, and how they experience AV in both their work and life.”

Thus, the concept of an industry that’s in the business of delivering exceptional integrated experiences was born. InfoComm International

became AVIXA – reflecting its new vision of the nature of the industry – in 2017, with the launch of a new strategic plan. Perhaps most appealing about it is how it embraces the entire industry: whether the experience is that of a child in a classroom, software developers huddling or consumers engaging with advertising – all deserve an exceptional experience. That’s what end users should expect – and that’s what the industry should be looking to deliver.

There can be little dispute about the quality of the thinking process that led AVIXA to its conclusions. The questions are only: how visible has the initiative been; does it reflect how the AV industry sees itself; how is the initiative perceived in the market – and is the initiative and, more importantly, AVIXA’s membership, reaping the rewards it and they deserve?

First, though: what does the industry believe constitutes an “exceptional experience”?

Unsurprisingly, there are about as many opinions as there are industry participants. “The experience must have relevance to you personally – it has to inspire that spine-tingling feeling,” says Deborah Jones, AV/IT sales manager, QEII Live at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre. “This could be an event where you touch people’s lives and change the way they think. Or it could be seeing an installation where every piece of equipment is fit for purpose, looks aesthetically perfect and provides that instant unified recognition – a ‘lightbulb’ moment, if you like.”

www.installation-international.com

Justin Paveley, project director at Focus 21, which is now part of the AVMI Group, echoes her sentiments. “Our world is now very dependent on technology,” he notes. “Technology that works well provides a user with a positive user experience. A user experience refers to a person’s emotions and attitudes whilst using a particular product, system or service. This experience includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human–computer interaction. If we cannot achieve these exceptional experiences, then our products and services will fail.”

“Exceptional experiences in audiovisual systems come down to ease of use,” believes Justin Dawson, who is an Irish AV technologist and host of AllThingsTech.ie. “Behind the scenes, there may be several racks, processors and cables. In the front of house, it should be as simple as the end user pressing a touchpanel or walking into a room and being able to comfortably use the equipment without needing to call for assistance. Whether this is BYOD, collaborative spaces or virtual meetings, they should be able to be conducted with ease.”

Fusing space, content, technology “Exceptional experiences are achieved when we expertly fuse space, content and technology,”

SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES 23 avers Phillips. “AVIXA has always been a hub for technology providers, but many content developers and producers were not engaged with us, so [last year] AVIXA launched the TIDE (Technology. Innovation. Design. Experience) Conference to run alongside InfoComm and ISE. It has been an outstanding success, bringing some of the most creative minds in the world to meet with the AV community and learn about how we can create amazing experiences for our customers together.”

“For us, it’s going that extra mile for our customers and delivering them not just a standard AV system,” says Stewart Maynard, a director of custom installer Knektd. “It’s a system that works with the design concept – such as picking the right speakers that blend into the design for a high-end brasserie or an industrial style gym. It’s about making a system that’s easy to use for anyone that delivers for the customer every time.”

Those views are, superficially, different – but examined more closely, there is a common thread. An exceptional experience is, of course, one that exactly matches what the customer wants. It’s easy to use. Everything looks right.

The underpinning technology and products are all but irrelevant: it’s what they deliver, and how

they deliver it, that counts. Perhaps most of all, though, it’s that great feeling you get when something ‘just works’.

“I followed the launch of the AVIXA brand/ rebrand and was intrigued at how they were looking to move the focus away from the technology to the solutions the technology delivers,” says Jason Cremins, founder and CEO, Signagelive. “This is very much how we position our platform and business.”

Well promoted “I was very aware of what AVIXA was doing,” notes Emma Bigg, managing director of AV consultancy Octavius RE. “It was a well-promoted rebranding, and it felt very well timed as it reflected the direction the AV industry was going and how they as an organisation needed to adapt.”

“I think I was the first in my organisation to spot the AVIXA name change – on social media – and shared it internally immediately,” smiles Jennifer Üner director, of communications at collaboration technologies specialist Oblong Industries. “I applaud the change, because it feels fresh and forward looking.”

So far so good: the majority of the AV industry appears to be aware of what AVIXA is doing.

But: does the industry see itself as a provider of

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24 SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES exceptional integrated experiences? Has AVIXA got that right?

Jon Sidwick, vice president, global, Maverick AV Solutions – and an AVIXA board director – thinks it has. “The industry’s value-add is in creating a great experience,” he believes. “We work in a world where it could be easy to lose focus on the material benefit of ensuring the AV experience matches the user’s requirement. This applies as much to the meeting room as it does to a live event and we – the industry – are uniquely positioned to deliver this.”

Jon Dew-Stanley, who is director of technical at distributor Midwich, sees things slightly differently.

“I don’t feel we are striving as an industry to always create exceptional experiences,” he says. “Not all clients want this. That said: we can ensure, through best practice and training, that all systems are delivered exceptionally and clients get what they ask for. This falls beyond manufacturers on to integrators, consultants, resellers and distribution to ensure that we all provide value and knowledge that supports a client in understanding what they can do with AV equipment to meet their business needs.”

July/August 2018

Case Study

Exceptional integrated experience – in action Three giant intersecting domes housing more than 40,000 plants from the rainforest regions of over 30 countries are the latest addition to Amazon’s Seattle HQ. Intended as a workspace, the Spheres have, inevitably, captured significant public interest – so, to explain the new building, Amazon created a visitor centre called Understory, the name of which refers to the habitat between the rainforest floor and canopy.

The installation, which features LED videowalls from Planar (now part of Leyard) exemplifies AVIXA’s concept of an exceptional integrated experience, and also illustrates ‘TIDE’ (technology, innovation, design, experience) in action. The project pulled together a broad range of disciplines, including architects, creative studios, content creators, lighting designers and AV integrator Whitlock. www.planar.com www.whitlock.com

Reframing the conversation “I think there are both good and not-so-good sides to the initiative,” says Spiros Andreou, service delivery manager at UK integrator CDEC. “There is definitely something to be said for trying to re-frame the conversation about AV to focus more on the customer experience and away from the technology-centric approach. There are a lot of technologists in the sector who could take a leaf out of the book and see technology as the enabler rather than the ‘be all and end all’. There are also some customers who focus overly on the specification of equipment – ‘it must be 4K’ or ‘I need the XI version of that box’ and so on – and forget that they are working on behalf of their end users for whom the technology should be seamless and transparent.”

He has an ally in Cremins, who also sees an AV industry whose comfort zone has traditionally been the technology, and that all too easily lapses into jargon and discussion of product features.

“The more we all move away from ‘tech speak’ and focus on the ‘problem’ we are trying to solve, the more prospective customers will understand the value of AV solutions to their business,” he says.

“On the other hand,” continues Andreou, “AVIXA can often ‘over-Americanise’ – and that doesn’t translate well in the UK. The AVIXA approach to project design and execution is a good example where there is still some work to do in order to integrate with how companies here like to see work carried out. Overly focusing on the ‘user experience’ might turn off some customers who have perhaps already undertaken design and requirements gathering

work, and are just looking for a capable provider to deliver the solution and support.”

On the right track “I do think AVIXA are on the right track and, as an AV company, our drive is to provide the best integrated solutions we can,” says Maynard.

“Having a trade body also push this is of course a massive advantage. That said: an increasing proportion of our business is also IT works, given the high reliance on IT infrastructure that the AV systems we deliver need – particularly when they need to be ‘exceptional’. This is work that may have been traditionally carried out by an IT specialist, but is now packaged with our works.

Any initiative therefore needs to be careful not to alienate IT works that CIs can do.”

Dawson is no less enthusiastic. “The name change from InfoComm to AVIXA was crucial to highlight the future of audiovisual globally,” he says. “End users didn’t understand the name ‘InfoComm’: it was dated. Placing AV back in the title of AVIXA with integrated experiences means that, as a member of AVIXA, we get to explain to our end users what an integrated experience should be and strive to achieve a working environment that is purely about ease of use for the end user. End users should not be intimidated by using AV applications inside a room. They should be able to control the lighting, the audio, the visuals and the projection with ease and comfort. AVIXA’s future relies on its members being able to deliver this experience.”

It would appear that the AVIXA message about

what the industry is and can be has fallen on receptive ears, and the organisation’s Grimes confirms that his colleagues have been gratified to see many companies in the AV industry talking in terms of experiences.

“But even when AV companies aren’t talking about experiences, they’re emphasising solutions over products – integrated pieces that, as a whole, align more perfectly with customers’ needs,” he adds. “At events around the world, exhibitors have been telling us the industry needs to pivot the conversation away from boxes and specs and toward the solutions and outcomes, which are the experiences that lead to better communication.”

Generating more profit Of course, the initiative would be only so much clever thinking and hot air if it didn’t achieve its objective – to raise the profile of the industry and, perhaps more importantly, help AVIXA’s members to generate more profit. It’s relatively early days – but to what extent has it succeeded?

“The profile of the industry has certainly improved,” believes Phillips. “I tend to do my work with executive decision-makers in global enterprises. Five years ago, many of these folks didn’t even know there was an AV industry and, what’s more, if they did know, they didn’t care.

Now some of the greatest advocates for the industry are these people; they have seen the value of what we can do and the positive effect that exceptional AV can have on their customers and their employees. They have also developed

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26 SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES

a higher level of intolerance for when it is not done well and when some in the industry don’t learn and adapt. The opportunity has never been bigger; the risk of doing nothing and carrying on in the old ways has never been greater. To that end, I believe AVIXA has played its part in providing the insight and encouraging change in the industry.”

Sidwick feels similarly about the success AVIXA has achieved. “AVIXA is doing some great work in connecting with end user channels,” he notes. “Obviously, this is an ongoing programme and almost limitless in opportunity – but we are already seeing end-user communities gaining a great knowledge of the importance of great AV.”

Industry energised His feelings are echoed by Oblong’s Üner. “I think this comprehensive refresh has energised the industry,” she says. “It’s global and far-reaching, and that makes it, and us, feel more valuable.”

While there is plenty of evidence of an AV community that is energised and enthused by AVIXA’s initiative, hard evidence of an uplift in integrator sales is, as yet, hard to come by.

“I don’t feel like it has directly affected me,” says Octavius’ Bigg, “but have spoken to others who think they are seeing some benefits.”

Her response is not atypical: there’s anecdotal evidence out there, but not much beyond that.

“From a Maverick perspective, we fuel the reseller channel and therefore would expect to see the impact being more readily felt at that level,” explains Sidwick. “From an AVIXA perspective, I know the connections are creating the right knowledge and relevance – but it is early in the process.”

It’s reassuring to see the extent to which the AV industry is welcoming AVIXA’s strategy to reposition it. There are those, however, who continue to see AVIXA more in its traditional role – one that they value highly in what it brings to the industry.

Midwich’s Dew-Stanley is among them.

“The Midwich technical team closely follow suggestions from our industry body,” he says. “We have committed to the training and certification of all our technical and engineering teams to CTS level. For us, being a value-added distributor means having a technically competent team that is able to assist both our trade clients and our vendor partners to gain market share with our products, supplied as systems that create exceptional experiences for the user.”

‘I was intrigued at how AVIXA were looking to move the focus away from the technology to the solutions the technology delivers’ Jason Cremins, Signagelive

Focus 21’s Paveley is another. “Our industry needs an organisation to deliver a platform for excellent resources and collaboration, and nobody is doing it better than AVIXA in our industry at the moment,” he enthuses. “AVIXA members create integrated AV experiences that deliver outcomes. AVIXA is a hub for professional collaboration, information, and the leading resource for AV standards, certification, training, market intelligence and thought leadership.”

Refreshing, exciting It’s also clear that the industry cannot deliver these exceptional experiences without the standards, the training, the professional development with which AVIXA has historically been associated – a point well made by the Queen Elizabeth II Centre’s Jones. “AVIXA, for me, is about growing AV in order to experience the world and to communicate in a refreshing and exciting way,” she says. “I believe you can inspire, stimulate and grow our industry by providing benchmarks of excellence. It seems practical to

July/August 2018

do this through education – the CTS qualified community; through leadership example, such as the exceptional experiences initiative: and the awards that recognise excellence.

“Therefore,” she concludes, “I would say AVIXA is about creating exceptional experiences – and so much more. As a membership and as a community we should be striving to achieve such experiences in our efforts to improve communication and support our industry.”

It is, as noted above, early days – AVIXA is not yet a year old, and a strategy as ambitious and far-reaching as the one it is pursuing was never going to be an overnight success. As Grimes noted previously: it is an ongoing effort.

“Part of our current strategic plan is to take the message of AV experiences and the value they create directly to customer segments,” he explains. “We’re involved in conferences and roundtable discussions in the retail, hospitality, higher education, financial services, transportation, and sports venue markets. We bring along AV professionals and customers in those markets who’ve seen success from integrating AV, and we talk about the benefits and highlight examples.

From the AV industry’s point of view, it’s a great way to also learn what end users want from their technology investments and how they actually use AV solutions.”

The experience economy The conclusion has to be: creating experiences – exceptional experiences – is how the AV industry needs to think of itself. That’s not least because, as has been widely documented – especially in relation to the millennial generation – we are moving from an ‘owning economy’ to an ‘experience economy’, and that applies equally in work and leisure settings.

The last word goes to Whitlock’s Phillips. “We are in the experience economy whether we like it or not,” he says. “Let’s learn from those who have embraced that and take action in our businesses to grab hold of the amazing opportunity we all have. Otherwise we will be left behind as a footnote in our competitors’ story.”

www.avixa.org www.barco.com www.cdec.co.uk www.focus21.co.uk www.knektd.co.uk www.midwich.com www.modulo-pi.com www.oblong.com www.octaviusre.com www.qeiicentre.london www.signagelive.com www.tdimaverick.co.uk www.whitlock.com www.xtrememedia.ie

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28 SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES

July/August 2018

Key Points Storytelling by brands has become more common in recent years

The rise of storytelling

In AV, storytelling has traditionally been more prominent in pop-up brand events and in museums and visitor attractions

Many see the corporate sector as showing great potential – most large companies have an experience centre of some kind

AV and emerging technologies are the catalysts for storytelling in a number of growing sectors

As more and more verticals embrace digital storytelling, the AV industry is in a position to exploit what amounts to a user experience revolution. Rob Lane reports

O

ver the past few years, as marketing has evolved due to the growth of relatively new platforms such as the internet and smartphones, consumers have become used to the now ubiquitous brand ‘narrative’. Whether the brand is Coca-Cola, Lloyds Bank or Apple, brand narratives are an essential way of communicating with customers.

Narratives, of course, are essentially a brand’s story, and it’s no coincidence that as brand narratives have become ubiquitous, the broader use of storytelling within business has grown in popularity, with so-called user experiences or integrated experiences at the heart of things.

The term ‘user experience’ has actually been around since 1993, when Donald Norman joined Apple as user experience architect – the first time UX was used within a job title. But UX and sister buzz-phrase ‘integrated experience’ only recently become de rigueur in AV, culminating in the AV industry’s trade body, InfoComm International, rebranding as AVIXA (Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association).

Experience-based storytelling In AV, user experience-based storytelling has traditionally been employed in temporary installations – the short-term, pop-up brand narratives that have regularly utilised technology such as AR and VR – and semi-permanent museum and visitor attractions.

“Brands have, over a number of years, been

using AV technology and storytelling,” says Ross Magri, managing director at Sarner. “Cadbury World, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and Heineken Experience in Amsterdam are just some examples.”

More recently, Sarner designed and installed the Calvados Experience, a visitor attraction that immerses the audience in a multi-sensory journey through the centuries, to tell the story of how the humble apple is turned into Calvados.

‘A corporate message, an artistic vision, an education project, religion, broadcast: the best way to transfer the message is through storytelling’ Peter Pauwels, Barco

Other permanent storytelling installations such as those deployed by big enterprise – so-called ‘experience centres’ – are also gaining traction, as are those used by retail to revitalise the high street shopping experience. Indeed, ‘digital storytelling’ was a key theme of July’s Digital Signage Summit Europe (see pages 20-22).

“Within retail, combinations of immersive signage, audio and brand storytelling platforms have transformed the shopping areas into experiential stages, enabling retailers to get closer

to their audiences,” explains Peter Cliff, creative director, Holovis.

“Digital storytelling within retail is increasing as the narratives are travelling outside of the stores and into people’s homes through apps and extended guest experiences. The key is then getting people back to the shopping space so they continue their journey with the brand.”

A good example is Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal, where the World Duty Free store’s experiential stage gives brands the opportunity to invite customers to join them for interactive events or branded photo opportunities. This allows personalised narratives to be played out for each shopper, which are then captured and shared as content rich posts on social media sites.

Emma Bigg, managing director of Octavius RE, agrees: “With the increased sophistication of marketing campaigns and selling a lifestyle to sell a product, we are seeing AV used for all sorts of storytelling within retail. The way we sell is becoming more sophisticated and so is the digital content and deployment. The ability to link digital content, social media and engage directly with smart devices means that the customer experience is more encompassing.”

Obvious areas are high-profile sports brands and luxury brands, but increasingly high street names have been joining the party. Fashion retailer Oasis used creative digital agency Kaleidovision to reinvigorate its London flagship store, and beauty brand L’Occitaine has used AV to great effect to

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create its multi-sensory London outlet.

“Brands are always looking for new and more creative ways to differentiate themselves – digital storytelling is a key part of this,” says Matt Barton, managing director, 7thSense Design. “Retailers are recognising that to bring people back to the brickand-mortar stores to do their shopping rather than online, they need to offer a unique experience. A well-told story with the correct use of technology can help in this.”

Corporate potential Storytelling may not have advanced as quickly in the corporate sector, but this is a market many see as having huge potential – albeit with caveats.

“Google, Apple and others have taken full advantage of the ‘experience centre’ concept,” says Magri. “Many are continuously expanding the number of such centres, but the developments of experience centres also require a substantial financial commitment that is only available for the bigger corporations.”

However, Bigg believes the sector will grow due to reductions in technology costs. “With the development of more sophisticated and more cost-accessible immersive technology, I see this as an area that will see significant growth,” she explains. “Seven years ago, Diageo commissioned

SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES 29 their Customer Collaboration Centre to help them engage more with their on-trade [such as bars and restaurants] and off-trade customers [such as supermarkets]. Very quickly they saw an increase in new initiatives that translated into profit growth. Since then, companies have seen how this route can be successful and have embraced the concept.”

“This side of the industry is one that interests us a lot as a solutions provider,” adds Daniel Lee, managing director at Hewshott International.

“What experience centres allow us to do is immerse end users in the technologies that we’ve

‘The way we sell is becoming more sophisticated and so is the digital content and deployment’ Emma Bigg, Octavius RE

been discussing with them. It allows us to take them on a journey through their own workflow and demonstrate how it might be enhanced.”

Barton is also a fan of the concept: “Experience

centres can provide a great platform for brands.

It’s an exciting area of the industry and we really enjoy working with clients to develop their concepts for these types of experiences. They can generally be multi-purpose spaces which is why we believe this area of the industry is only going to grow – serving as a B2B relationship selling tool and a promotional tool on a B2C level.”

“Every larger company is investing in an experience centre of some shape or form,” confirms Peter Pauwels, director of strategic marketing at Barco. “The ‘product’ they sell is becoming less tangible or harder to demonstrate through touch and feel. The only solution to explain what you do, how you do it and why you are the best at it is through interactive storytelling.”

When it comes to the more established storytelling verticals, recent developments in the way AV is being employed have improved the way that stories are told, with interaction particularly making a difference: “More immersion, more interaction, non-linear”, according to Pauwels.

To pull visitors into the story and away from their smartphones there needs to be a larger canvas. This is leading to the use of larger digital walls and mixed technology, with LED, projection and LCD coming together. At the same time,

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30 SPECIAL REPORT: AV AND EXPERIENCES visitors expect a greater degree of interaction and a varied, non-linear approach to the storytelling.

“Visitors are expecting the content to adapt to them,” says Pauwels. “Great storytelling requires interaction from the audience. By creating interactivity you can assure a longer engagement of the spectators. Walking through a museum or theme park, through a pre-set path or scenario does not work. Every visitor will find his own way and his own viewpoint. The AV technology needs to enable this.”

AV is certainly allowing storytellers to create a more varied engaging experience while appealing to a wider demographic: “Exhibitions now tend to include more interactive and immersive elements, but retain some of the more traditional features so as to appeal to a wider range of ages,” says Bigg.

“We’re definitely seeing an increased demand for interactivity,” adds Barton. “Something that allows the visitor to discover, and perhaps define, their own experience. This interactivity can be venue-led – for example, a member of staff leads guests through a journey and encourages participation to drive engagement. Alternatively, visitor-controlled experiences make for a particularly exciting experience.”

Lee comments: “Interactivity and user engagement are the keys here. Rather than telling a story to an audience, they want the audience to participate in the story themselves – maybe even have a way to affect the story and its outcome.”

Tools and techniques AV professionals are utilising a variety of tools and techniques to tell these stories, and these methodologies are key to ensuring that each piece of storytelling fully engages its audience.

Holovis utilises its RideView proprietary software suite to bring stories to life in shared VR CAVEs – four or five-sided structures where all the walls feature volumetric projection and users wear 3D glasses to interpret data and explore it in real time, 1:1 scale.

This allows multidisciplinary teams, from creatives to engineers, to experience the final set-up in a physical space long before they would normally be able to, and has proved an invaluable tool for identifying things that aren’t working within the proposed design – allowing changes to be made before any physical builds begin.

“Talking and showing is key,” says Bigg. “The reason that experience centres work and digital storytelling is effective is that most people respond to visual cues. Quite often clients need to see and hear examples before they can truly envision the solution. Sometimes it’s as important to eliminate everything they don’t like before you get to something they do.”

“Pre-visualisation is a key part of our offering now and we’re continuing to develop this as a feature that allows customers to visualise their

system and content prior to installation,” adds Barton. “This is essential as it enables clients to better understand both complexities and opportunities when setting up display systems.

We have always found that working with clients early on the life of a project to review concepts and ideas leads to the best quality and the most positive project outcomes.”

Lee adds: “More and more we are using 3D visualisation tools. To deliver the client’s vision, we are using the same tools as always but deployed in a different way. We are also adding a layer of intelligence and interactivity across the top.”

In terms of the potential for AV business, there appear to be very few limits to storytelling’s expansion capacity. According to Pauwels, storytelling as a way of communicating messaging has now entered every vertical market: “A corporate message, an artistic vision, an education project, religion, broadcast: the best way to transfer the message is through storytelling. This trend is primarily driving the way the content is developed: more video, more interaction. But it is also driving the use of technology.

“Although it started in themed entertainment, we see storytelling appearing in all Barco verticals, from live events (corporate gatherings, live concert or outdoor mappings) through large fixed installations in corporate experience centres, broadcast studios, museums and houses of worship.”

Lee also sees demand across the board: “I think that most organisations now want to tell their story. Whether it’s a corporate, a hotel or a retailer, they all want their clients and potential clients to form a lasting relationship with them and they often do this through storytelling.”

Barton has a similar view: “AV is a great and highly versatile enabler for creative storytelling.

We are seeing AV in storytelling in many interesting

July/August 2018

new applications such as airports, shopping centres, corporate venues and casinos where use cases vary from direct advertising and ‘lobbyattractions’ to some more abstract and intriguing artistic installations.”

Cliff focuses on two growth areas: “AV and emerging technologies are the catalysts for storytelling in a number of growing sectors including on-board cruise ships and the property market. Cruise ships are looking to extend the guest experience using AR and tracking technologies, creating unique interactions for each passenger. This extends the narratives of the ship’s entertainment and allows people to be creating their own adventures based on the interactions they have.

“Within the property market, experience centres are being created to help sell homes, utilising new technologies and IoT connectivity as a key feature of modern connected living. These present samples of different technologies with a story led approach to exploring them all, encouraging people to envisage this as their new life.”

Storytelling is only successful if end users are satisfied, and such satisfaction demands a seamless, frictionless AV experience – which in itself requires detailed and considered AV consultation, solutions and delivery. Whether the storytelling takes place in a global brand’s visitor exhibition, a retail hub, theme park ride, or corporate experience centre, the key to a story’s success is exceptional user experience.

www.7thsensedesign.com www.barco.com www.hewshott.com www.holovis.com www.octaviusre.com www.sarner.com

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32 TECHNOLOGY FEATURE: CONTROL ROOMS

July/August 2018

Key Points Facilities designed with ergonomics prioritised enable operators to respond quickly when incidents occur

Balancing act

The layout of the control room has evolved to remove clutter and provide a more operator-friendly environment

IP-based KVM solutions allow companies to move bulky computer equipment away from the operator’s local environment

Given the rise of KVM solutions and IP infrastructures, Duncan Proctor looks at how command and control centres are evolving and continuing to balance complex functionality with simple operation

D

ue to the nature of the work being done in control centres, solutions, first and foremost, need to be easy to use as any human error can result in major problems. However, the simplicity of operation from the solutions sought is in stark contrast to the inherent complexity of control rooms systems, and the associated knowledge requirement, which continues to increase.

“Accounting for technology developments in terms of control room infrastructure, such as the migration to digital video and advances in computing devices, can often involve great complexity in terms of combining all these requirements to provide flexible information display and user access,” says Nicolas Jaud, product marketing manager at Aten UK. “Implementing solutions in control rooms requires a sound knowledge of current – and future – developments in not only network connectivity and multiple IT system management, but also in how the integration of computer operations/control and AV systems can account for the need for essential decision-related content being available in remote spaces.”

As networked AV solutions have emerged, traditional matrix switchers for signal management in control rooms have fallen out of favour. In part, this is due to the ever-

increasing number of signals that control rooms are managing, as well as the fact that facilities receive more data than ever before. “These high-density installations need solutions that efficiently transport AV and control signals at low bitrates, and maximise the available bandwidth by putting more streams on the network,” explains Caroline Injoyan, business development manager for Matrox Graphics.

Jaud agrees, and elaborates: “What is needed are control room solutions that provide such a networked distributed collaboration system, ones that take into account the complexities of signal distribution, the connectivity of both physical and virtual servers, data visualisation and professional videowalls, and intuitive workflows and operator controls.”

Another development, mirrored by the wider industry, is the move to higher resolutions.

“Video feeds are becoming high resolution with 4K commonplace and expected to be the standard in the future,” states Manuel Greisinger, head of sales at IHSE. “The ability to handle high resolution with no delay or artefacts is crucial.”

Darren Allen, control room business development manager EMEA at Adder, notes the importance of avoiding delays: “From receiving data and information from a variety of sources, to analysing it and making missioncritical decisions; any delay, be it mere seconds

or minutes, has the potential to negatively impact operations.

“Making sure these environments remain productive and successful comes down to their design. Of course, staff, technology and operations play a key role, but the layout creates the right foundation for all of the other components to fit into place.”

‘Control rooms are no longer limited by the maximum distance an analogue signal will travel from the rack room’ Daniel Hinton, Argosy

Set-up and operation The technologies that have had the biggest impact on command and control rooms in recent years are KVM and the move to IP infrastructures. But how have they changed how control rooms are set up and operated?

“Traditionally control rooms would house banks of computers and displays,” says Allen.

“However, today the aim is for a room that is smart, uncluttered and comfortable for

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operators so they can concentrate on the tasks in hand.

“The obvious benefits of moving to IP are increased flexibility and scalability – that is, the ability to quickly, easily and cost-effectively scale infrastructure in line with business growth.

It’s ease of use and integration is one of the main drivers for implementation, particularly as skills have evolved. In addition, it is easier to use IP-based technology than it is to use proprietary systems. And, of course, with the cost of networking equipment dropping so significantly, IP is an attractive proposition.”

“Control rooms are no longer limited by the maximum distance an analogue signal will travel from the rack room,” says Daniel Hinton, Argosy’s broadcast and communications regional manager. “Using IP networking, the control room can be located where it is convenient for the operation – which could even be off-site.

We have recently seen customers build a main control room on-site, with a smaller control room off the premises for redundancy. As well as disaster recovery, this means for instance that an international company can have 24-hour access and control, with different time zones logging in to provide continuity.”

Jochen Bauer, marketing director at Guntermann & Drunck, adds: “Just think of remote tower concepts of air navigation services, which have become very popular in recent years. Numerous air navigation services operate remote towers and monitor approach, departure and the traffic on the airport apron from a remote control room with no direct view of the airport.”

Samuel Recine, director of sales – America and Asia Pacific at Matrox Graphics, is effusive on the impact of the move to IP infrastructures.

“The move to low-bitrate, standard IP infrastructures has been nothing short of tectonic in the increased level of demand for our KVM products,” he says. “While we are still growing our relationships for our fibre optic deployments, the new low bitrate category cable deployments over standard IP means our sales performance is not just growing but doubling and tripling.”

Space limitations As the available space in many command centres has continued to dwindle, KVM solutions have been even more widely deployed as it allows bulky computer equipment to be removed from the operator’s local environment and safely stored away in technical rooms.

“Increasingly, organisations are looking to combine numerous control rooms into a single environment,” says Allen. “Consequently, KVM solutions allow remote access to computers or other applications, so these can be transferred

FEATURE: CONTROL ROOMS 33 to a different room, freeing up more space in the main hub.

“IP-based KVM solutions enable organisations to move all physical computers away from the working environment and into a dedicated, secure external room such as a rack-mounted server room and separating secure networks from unsecured networks, a process referred to as ‘air gapping’.”

Hinton adds: “Control rooms should be designed for the logistics of the operation, not for the convenience of the technology. That means providing comfortable working space for the operators required, and putting the equipment they need to operate under their hands.

“This seems like an obvious requirement, but it is only through powerful, high bandwidth networked KVM that it has become practical.

“Modern KVM technology not only puts control of all devices on a single workstation, it allows multiple high resolution displays on a monitor wall, and of course it contributes to the environment of the control room by eliminating noisy and heat-generating equipment.”

‘The move to lowbitrate, standard IP infrastructures has been nothing short of tectonic’ Samuel Recine, Matrox Graphics

However, Injoyan disagrees with the idea that a central videowall is the way to go: “When control room spaces are limited, personal videowalls at operator stations are favoured over a single, central, large-scale videowall.

The interoperability and integration of IP KVM solutions with these videowall controllers becomes necessary for operators to easily share content on the videowall and create digital spaces for visualisation and collaboration.

Supporting standards-based technologies facilitate the integration of KVM and videowall technologies in the same environment.”

The fact that the consequences of human error in these environments can be very serious – ergonomics, unsurprisingly, is high on the list of priorities when fitting out facilities. “A more ergonomic design results in a better workflow and device management,” explains Jaud.

“In addition to extending hardware lifecycle and performance reliability by locating machinery away from operators in ideal environmental conditions, it is also imperative to consider the operators themselves. Control and peripheral equipment should be located optimally and displays should be angled for comfort and ease of viewing.

“More importantly, access to controls should be intuitive in order to create an environment that enables operators to stay alert and in control so that when incidents do occur, responses can be instant and appropriate resources can be immediately deployed. For these reasons, operator workspace and control solutions that enable multiple computer desktop workflows are the way forward.”

Integrator influence A fast-changing and constantly adapting environment inevitably presents a major opportunity for integrators well versed in the market. “By embracing the latest technologies, including KVM solutions, AV integrators have become increasingly influential in control room environments as they’re able to create installations that not only make life easier for operators, but increase overall wellbeing and efficiency,” comments Allen.

“Previously it was the security integrators that tended to lead on such projects, but AV seems to be leading more and more in innovating and project leadership. AV technology has essentially enabled users within the control room environment to do more with less, and so naturally the technology itself is becoming a central part of day-to-day activities within these environments.”

Incorporating new technology means an added layer of complexity is to be expected, as Hinton describes: “Now you have to understand network topology and switching design, to ensure there is certainty of bandwidth for all the monitoring and management required.

Larger installations may require an independent network to provide the bandwidth. Copper may not provide the capacity, and you will need to install a fibre backbone.”

Conversely, Bauer believes the integrator’s job may have become slightly easier thanks to technology developments. “Today more than ever, integrators can build control rooms with mainly ergonomics and design in mind, since they no longer have to include the computer equipment, which KVM systems help house in safe and space-saving technical rooms. This means that they no longer have to design the control room with regards to technical aspects such as number of computers, background noise, heat emission and ventilation concepts and are thus able to focus on ergonomics and user-friendliness.”

www.adder.com www.argosycable.com www.aten.com www.gdsys.de/en www.ihse.com www.matrox.com/graphics/en

34 SOLUTIONS: HAYMARKET THEATRE, LEICESTER

July/August 2018

UNITED KINGDOM

PROJECT OF THE MONTH

A theatre reborn After lying dormant for more than a decade, the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester has become “one of the best-equipped regional theatres in the country”. Tom Bradbury reports on how a specially convened consortium and a leading installation company brought about the transformation

O

pened by theatrical giant Sir Ralph Richardson in 1973, Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre was originally operated by the Leicester Theatre Trust; but after the Trust moved to the newly built Curve Theatre in 2007, the Haymarket stood unused and unloved for over a decade.

The local authority, which owns the lease, had made attempts to find a buyer without success.

Then, in June 2016, the management of the theatre was taken over by an organisation known as the Haymarket Consortium. Their collective vision and commitment, along with a £3.6m investment from the local authority, mean that the Haymarket Theatre is finally reawakening.

In the words of Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, “The council’s investment will create a new cultural destination in the city centre that will offer opportunities for jobs, training and work experience, while freeing the council of the burden of the building’s service charges by 2020.”

One of the consortium’s directors, Jed Spittle, comments: “We’re very excited about bringing the old theatre back into use. There was no ‘off-the shelf’ solution to the unique challenge the Haymarket Theatre presents, so [fellow director] Chris Knight and myself decided to pull together a new team of experts, from differing fields and with a passion for the building, and form this new consortium.

“Our original proposal anticipated the phased refurbishment of the theatre, with areas such as the auditorium being brought back into use as funds became available. But in order for our business plan to be viable, we concluded that we would need to reinstate the auditorium from the outset. Our aim is to create a fully equipped professional performance and rehearsal space – complete with bar and catering facilities – that will allow us to maximise our income streams from the start. From 2020, that income will cover the costs of the annual service charges and finally put an end to the city council’s financial responsibilities for the building.”

Training theatre Knight highlights another ambition for the reborn facility, as a learning facility that could ultimately be recognised as a national training theatre supporting students studying for production and performance qualifications. He comments: “Through our collective experience in industry, augmented by numerous conversations with industry colleagues, we’ve established that there is a demand for industry-led training. This training needs to be current and adaptable – the concept being developed is that of a teaching and training theatre, where students are taught through a mixture of theory and practical sessions, working alongside a professional team to gain experience

Installed Audio QSC Q-SYS Core 110f processor QSC CXD8.4Q eight-channel amplifier d&b 30D and 10D four-channel amplifiers d&b D12 two-channel amplifiers d&b D20 four-channel amplifier/controller d&b E5, E6 and E8 two-way coaxial speakers d&b M4 and M6 two-way stage monitors d&b B4-SUB and V-SUB cardioid subwoofers d&b V7P three-way passive speakers d&b Yi10P two-way passive speakers DiGiCo SD9, SD10, SD11 and SD12 consoles DiGiCo SD-racks, D-Rack and SD-Mini rack Shure Axient Digital wireless mic system Shure SM57, SM58, Beta58 microphones Point Source Audio EMBRACE sub-mini mics Sennheiser MK 4 microphones Audix DP Elite drum mic kit Radial DI boxes (various) Williams Sound Hearing Hotspot during the operation of the venue.

“Ultimately the aim is to teach from GCSE and BTEC through to degree level, and we welcome suggestions from the industry on what they’d like to see included in technical, production, performance and stage management courses.”

The newly refurbished Haymarket will be a multi-role facility featuring theatre productions, esports tournaments, live music, awards, parties and conferences. To accommodate its busy future programme, the main auditorium has been refurbished with 900 new seats and

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SOLUTIONS: HAYMARKET THEATRE, LEICESTER 35

About the installer West London-based Autograph Sales & Installations is part of the Autograph Group, which includes Autograph Sound, one of the global founding fathers of audio for theatre Although much of its work is still in theatres, AS&I also works in houses of worship, educational establishments and live performance venues At the recent ABTT Show it launched the ‘Time To Change Your Tune’ campaign, an initiative designed to assist professional users of wireless systems through the forthcoming clearance of the 700MHz frequency band state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, while elsewhere a café, licensed bar and TV gallery have also been created. The foyer, studio theatre and entrance areas have been extensively modernised while retaining the original feel of the old Haymarket Theatre.

Autograph Sales & Installations has been central to bringing the theatre’s audio infrastructure up to the standards expected of a modern performance space. While originally recommended to the theatre as a potential supplier of the equipment specified by Chris Knight, Autograph’s involvement effectively became that of an audio consultant – in the event the company played a pivotal role in the sound design for the main auditorium, engineered multi-role mobile systems and created bespoke cabling solutions and much else.

The paging and voice evacuation solutions are good examples of how the actual design evolved during the project, as Autograph’s Chris Austin explains: “A basic voice alarm system was installed by the building contractors and the original backstage paging was designed to be simple show relay plus calls to dressing rooms and offices. Halfway through the project it was decided that a more comprehensive emergency voice system was needed, more for inward evacuation and lockdown situations than fire, and we were able to modify our own designs to meet the revised spec as economically as possible.

“In the event we finished with a regular twozone paging system for day-to-day theatre use, with a station at stage door which can page to eight individual areas including auditoria and stages, all run from the QSC Q-SYS platform.”

A single Q-SYS Core 110f is linked via gigabit Ethernet to a single CXD8.4Q eight-channel amplifier, which powers all the paging zones.

The Core processor also runs a Williams Sound Hearing Hotspot device, which provides assisted listening over Wi-Fi on visitors’ mobile phones.

Autograph also installed over 20km of cabling and custom panelwork, providing a venuewide network for audio signal, data, video and loudspeakers plus fibre. It is one of the very few companies in the UK that could undertake such a

multi-disciplinary role completely in-house. d&b audiotechnik’s broad portfolio of pointsource products feature throughout the entire complex. The main auditorium is a wide but shallow space in which a line array would offer no advantages; proscenium-mounted V7Ps with V-SUBs are used for the main system, with E6s on the circle (balcony) front and a single Yi10P enclosure as a centre/downfill module. A row of E8s are used as front fills, a unit chosen because its power and coverage allows the maintenance of the room’s audio image regardless of the type of event. Everything in the main house is driven by d&b 30D and 10D DSP-equipped amplifiers.

Hosting live music events means the provision of suitable monitoring facilities, and so Autograph also supplied four each of d&b M4 and M6 stage monitors, driven from D12 touring amplifier racks with panelwork modified to suit the theatre’s needs.

Flexible system The Studio Theatre employs a flexible system comprising more E8s, E6s, E5s and B4 subwoofers, the configuration of which varies with application. Finally, a dedicated mobile set-up including four V-SUB and two V7Ps driven from a single D20 amplifier/ controller is available for deployment anywhere it’s needed.

The consoles of choice are all DiGiCo – an SD10 for FOH duties in the main auditorium, an SD12 for monitors, an SD9 in Studio Theatre and an SD11 for the mobile system. All the DiGiCo consoles are equipped with the optical package so they can connect easily to the theatre’s two SD-racks, a D-Rack and an SD-Mini rack as required. Autograph also supplied custom 12-way stage boxes and multicores as well as a range of playback equipment.

Knight originally specified Shure’s ULXD system for his wireless needs but the same company’s brand new Axient Digital product became available just in time – consequently the Haymarket is one of the first venues in the UK to own this cutting-edge radio mic technology, with 18 channels in use throughout the building. The transmitters are a mix of bodypacks and handheld models and Autograph also supplied a kit of Shure’s industry-standard stage microphones.

All the sub-miniature microphones are from Point Source Audio’s EMBRACE range, which can all be worn either ear-mounted or as a standard lavalier.

All three manufacturers that he approached separately referred Knight to Autograph. He comments on his experiences working with the Autograph team led by Chris Austin: “Autograph and their team were an absolutely invaluable resource in the planning and delivery of the sound system on which we rely. So much more than just a supplier, their contribution went far beyond the purely technical – frankly, without them this project would not have happened and we would not now be one of the best-equipped regional theatres in the country.

“I honestly cannot recommend them strongly enough. Anyone who needs an audio infrastructure for a theatre or performance space and wants it done properly, don’t go to anyone else.”

www.audixusa.com www.autographsales.co.uk www.dbaudio.com www.digico.biz www.haytheatre.com www.point-sourceaudio.com www.radialeng.com www.sennheiser.com www.shure.eu www.williamssound.com

36 SOLUTIONS: THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, LONDON UNITED KINGDOM

Installed Audio

Chart-topping venue A range of AV technology has helped turn a Grade II listed venue into a modern, versatile event space. Tom Bradbury reports

T

he London offices for The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), One Moorgate Place, London, is a Grade II listed venue in the heart of the city. It has over 20 versatile rooms which can accommodate almost any event or conference.

The building comprises two parts, both of which fall under the Grade II listed building status.

“The rooms were dated in terms of both décor and AV,” says Martin Amos, IT/AV infrastructure manager at ICAEW. “Although the technology was functional, it was unreliable and prone to failure.

We needed a major upgrade of our AV equipment, lighting and conferencing facilities.”

Despite its listed status, the venue operators at ICAEW wanted to embrace technology and provide optimal facilities for its event and conference customers. The Great Hall, which is the venue’s largest room, had three old XGA projectors beaming onto a stage backdrop with copper cabling and an Old Cue control system that needed replacing.

Tall windows that stand 4m-high and span the entire side of the Great Hall, were obscured by the old stage backdrop, which blocked all natural light coming into the room. English Heritage was keen that these were uncovered as part of the refurbishment, but this created the challenge of an entire wall of windows to project towards. This meant it needed significantly brighter projectors.

“The venue is hired for almost every type of event from political receptions and company launches to private functions - weddings and parties,” states Amos. “So the brief for the refurbishment was to make this as flexible a space as possible to accommodate the widest range of events thereby increasing revenue and sales to get a higher return on this beautiful building.”

Scale and budget Due to sheer scale of the works and budget constraints the team needed a staged approach to the installation.

Visual communication specialists, Clear VC, which has worked with the ICAEW since 2011 started by replacing the ageing Cue system with a Crestron AV3 processor with new HDBaseT transmitters and receivers. This gave ICAEW better control over the environment with less concerns over the serviceability of the room. The control user interface was delivered on an iPad using the Crestron App. The three old NEC XGA resolution projectors in the Great Hall were replaced with three Optoma ZU650 laser projectors, and a further ZU650 was also installed in the Council Chamber Auditorium.

Adrian Hancock, managing director at Clear VC, explains: “We installed the first Optoma ZU650 projectors and Crestron controller in a phased approach as the old models failed. Then, when it came time for the full refurbishment of the Great Hall, we re-utilised these within the installation.”

The bank of three ZU650 laser WUXGA ProScene projectors were re-installed to project across a new 12m-wide fast-rolling electric Gerriets Megascreen.

A further 5m-wide electric screen was then installed for customers who want a smaller single projection with the blinds open. This called for an even brighter projector – so the team selected the 8,200-lumen Optoma ZU850 WUXGA laser projector.

The Crestron system was programmed to control the projectors over the LAN. The HDBaseT receivers were removed and the built-in HDBaseT input on the projectors receive the signals.

Two ZH400UST laser projectors were installed in portrait mode on both sides of the stage so clients

Biamp Tesira Forte AVB digital signal processors Crestron Saros ceiling speakers for voice reinforcement system Listen Technologies IR induction loops Martin Audio speakers and subwoofers Revolabs Exec Elite Wireless lapel mics, roving handheld mics Shure tabletop gooseneck wireless mics and wired gooseneck lectern mics

Video Crestron touchscreens with Digital Graphics Engines Euroscreen projection screen Gerriets Megascreen LifeSize Icon 800 videoconferencing equipment Optoma ZU650, ZH400UST, ZU850 laser projectors Tripleplay server Vaddio RoboTrak cameras

Control Crestron AV3 processor Crestron 16x16 DigitalMedia matrix

Lighting Chauvet Stage lights amBX lighting server Studio Due wall wash fixtures and uplighters can display logos during events. These are rear projected so no equipment is on display. “We chose these projectors due to their brightness, reliability and longevity,” says Amos.

Clear VC installed stage and architectural lighting with down lights to give ICAEW and its customers the ability to wall wash colours across the hall using amBX lighting server and Studio Due light fittings. “This gives a choice of 256 million colours – so whichever colour the customer would like, the whole environment can feel the same,” explains Hancock. “Brands can match their logo perfectly within the environment by taking a single pixel from the logo projected on the ZH400UST projector, and use this as the basis to colour match the room.

SOLUTIONS: THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, LONDON About the installer Clear VC is a specialist provider of audiovisual communication solutions for a range of sectors including manufacturing, hospitality, education, technology, finance, and government Headquartered in Manchester, its team is experienced in delivering videoconferencing, AV, IT and telecoms projects “The new sound system can now accommodate bands and singers and there are even moving gobo lights. So wedding parties and celebrations can light up the dancefloor as if it is a nightclub.”

Three Biamp Tesira Forte AVB digital signal processors and a replacement voice reinforcement system were added to accommodate any type of microphone and give event organisers more flexibility.

Presenters can stand at the lectern, roam free with a lapel mic or use the gooseneck mics for a toptable type event.

For people with impaired hearing, Clear VC installed Listen Technologies IR induction loops, with personal lanyards. “The feedback we have had from people who have used these lanyards is that the user experience is much better,” says Amos.

Final elements LifeSize Icon 800 VC equipment and Vaddio RoboTrak cameras have also been installed.

Presenters can walk around the hall wearing a lanyard and the camera will follow the speaker wherever they are, which will then be transmitted through the videoconferencing system.

With multiple inputs throughout the room and three locations for the lectern in the Great Hall, a Crestron 16x16 Digital Media matrix allows signals to be switched quickly. Fibre optic out from this can transmit whatever is being shown in the Great Hall to the auditorium for an extended event or to the Tripleplay server, which is then able to broadcast throughout the entire building. It also connects into the Lifesize Icon 800 system which has the Lifesize Cloud for global deployment enabling ICAEW to broadcast the Great Hall to anywhere in the world.

As well as the Great Hall and the 120-seat Council Chamber Auditorium, One Moorgate Place has 21 standard meeting rooms - now with the same user experience. They each have a Crestron touchscreen and a Lifesize Icon 800 system connecting to a display. Room booking panels are powered by Crestron and Fusion servers that allows ICAEW to book the meeting rooms.

“We wanted this consistency for users throughout the whole venue,” says Hancock.

37

“Using Crestron digital media for video switching, control and lighting provides this continuity across all rooms. We also needed to ensure that whatever we put in kept the tone of this historic building. All equipment had to be sensitively selected to fit. This meant balancing not only the technological and user requirements but also English Heritage’s requirements.”

Since the refurb, bookings for the Great Hall have gone up by 16% and revenue is up 27%. Amos concludes: “ICAEW is a world-class membership organisation. We now have the facilities that reflect this status that we can be proud of.”

www.ambx.com www.biamp.com www.chauvetlighting.com www.clearvc.co.uk www.crestron.com www.euroscreens.se www.gerriets.com www.lifesize.com www.listentech.com www.martin-audio.com www.optoma.com www.revolabs.com www.shure.eu www.studiodue.com www.tripleplay.tv www.vaddio.com

38 SOLUTIONS IN BRIEF

July/August 2018

USA

Flagship Times Square retail install Activate The Space (ATS) has recently completed the AV design and integration of the new Champs Sports retail location in New York’s Times Square.

ATS provided LED walls including a two-storey wall on the side of the escalators and the media playback engine for the large outdoor LED wall on the front of the building, powered by Signagelive.

ATS also designed a multi-zone Bose audio system complete with new Core Control touchpanels, which allows the technical team to operate or interrogate the AV systems, via the cloud from any device.

HD media playback is provided using Brandcast Solutions powered by Signagelive and IAdea.

Brandcast is powered by Signagelive media playback and cloud-based scheduling solutions, which power the large outdoor LED walls on the facade of 10 Times Times Square.

www.signagelive.com

AUSTRALIA

AMX control at university stock trading facility Telstra has installed a complete AMX by Harman AV control solution in Deakin University’s new Telstra Trading Room, a stock exchange simulation located on the university’s Melbourne campus.

Deakin Business School partnered with Australian comms provider Telstra to create a simulated trading room complete with tickers, displays and a large videowall providing real-time finance updates.

Harman distributor avt and Telstra designed an AMX AV control system that could handle the demands of a modern stock exchange trading floor and provide reliable signal distribution.

The main videowall in the Telstra Trading Room consists of eight 55in LCD panels that can function independently or be combined to display a large number of input options.

www.harman.com

UK

Venue undergoes AVB system redesign The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and Electrosonic briefed POLAR Integrated Solutions on a redesign of the venue’s audio video bridging (AVB) system.

RSM is one of the UK’s leading providers of postgraduate medical education, meaning much of its work revolves around conferences and meetings. High quality AV provision is an essential part of delivering not only the Society’s own activities but also those of other corporate bodies who hire its facilities.

The idea was to streamline multiple Biamp

installations to work efficiently as a single entity at the RSM’s 1, Wimpole St facility.

POLAR’s responsibility was to provide an AVB network topology redesign and to configure and commission the entire system from scratch. The bulk of this took around two weeks and was done on-site.

Once the AVB network was re-configured, the structure is much more logical and RSM now enjoys a single, fully functional system, where previously there had effectively been three independently configured systems and networks.

www.polar.uk.com

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40 SOLUTIONS IN BRIEF

July/August 2018

FRANCE

Engineering school opts for laser projection CentraleSupélec’s new campus has been equipped with Digital Projection laser projectors by French scenography agency dUCKS scéno along with integrators Tech-Audio.

A total of 12 Digital Projection laser projectors were deployed within the Gustave Eiffel building: seven E-Vision Laser 6500 projectors in the smaller 50 to 120-seater auditorium, while an E-Vision Laser 8500 ensures visual content for the 120 seat theatre. Two further M-Vision Laser projectors cover the school catering area, while three E-Vision Laser 8500s were specified for the largest lecture hall the Grand Hémicycle. Live content management is handled by an Analog Way Ascender video processor for the various room configurations.

www.digitalprojection.com

USA

Steerable arrays ends church’s sonic woes A pair of Renkus-Heinz ICONYX steerable arrays has eliminated issues of poor speech audibility in a church in the greater Los Angeles area.

Services at the Claremont United Church of Christ feature choir and pipe organ, but it was the intelligibility of the spoken word that was an issue.

Church leaders consulted with the team at Pacific AV, who designed and installed a new system, covering the entire sanctuary with a pair of Renkus-Heinz ICONYX Gen5 IC24-RN digitally steerable arrays.

The combination of the IC24-RN’s flexible, programmable control and precision beam steering enabled the Pacific AV team to eliminate the dead spots, minimise reflections, and provide clear, intelligible sound throughout the sanctuary.

www.renkus-heinz.com www.pacificav.net

SOUTH KOREA

World’s fifth tallest building gets integrated control At 123 storeys and 555m high, the Lotte World Tower is the tallest building in South Korea and the fifth tallest in the world. Serving more functions than most tall buildings, it houses retail spaces; offices; a five-star, 260-room luxury hotel; small residential apartments, and 10 floors for public use.

Perched on the top seven floors, Seoul Sky is the biggest public attraction in this sleek, tapered tower of wonders. It starts on the 117th floor and goes up to the 123rd floor and features various viewing positions, the world’s

third highest observatory and a lounge bar.

Throughout its venues and media displays, Seoul Sky showcases advanced AV technology built around media servers and Symetrix Edge DSPs. A total of eight Symetrix Edge processors serve the supertall skyscraper.

Lotte Data Communication Co designed and installed the AV systems for this prestigious new building, which opened in April 2017.

Sound Solution Co was in charge of product provision and technical support. Both companies are based in Seoul.

www.symetrix.co

TECHNOLOGY

Kit you need to know about

PRODUCT OF QSC THE MONTH Premium Business Music Solutions

It’s… a full range of zone mixers, zone amplifiers, background music speakers, wall controllers and apps, aimed at installations in coffee shops, restaurants, fitness clubs, health spas – anywhere that a business is playing music to customers.

What’s new? QSC is offering a bigger catalogue of products in this area, to be seen as a serious player in this area of the market.

Details: Although QSC has a strong presence in cinema systems and powered loudspeakers, not to mention its Q-SYS platform, “We’re not so well known in business music applications,” David Fuller, senior director product development, told us – hence the portfolio expansion.

There are two zone mixers, based on the TouchMix platform. The MP-M40 has four mic/line inputs, four line level inputs and four output zones, while the MP-M80 has double this I/O. A cue buss output enables the integrator to plug in a pair of headphones and cue individual inputs and outputs – very useful when commissioning the system

when patrons are present. The zone mixers also have an input for multifunction wall control panels, and a USB port allows configurations, presets and scenes to be stored and recalled, while an Ethernet port allows wired or wireless control from a PC or handheld device.

The HTML5-based MP Install app enables system configuration. A set-up wizard allows the integrator to create a checklist, which a less knowledgeable contractor can use when installing the system. For the end customer, MP Manage is a privileges-based app that supports up to 12 connected devices; individual users can be given the appropriate degree of control.

A range of wired wall-mounted controllers, offering zone select, source select and volume control, is available in European and North American styles. They feature an LCD display and up-down selection buttons.

With rack space at a premium in this market, each of the MP-A amplifiers occupies just 1U. The three models are the MP-A20V, MP-A40V and MP-A80V, with two, four and eight 200W

channels respectively. A neat feature is FlexAmp technology, whereby each pair of channels has its own power supply; this enables the 400W to be shared asymmetrically.

The MP-A amplifiers, and the new AD series SUB/SAT loudspeakers (a single sub with a number of satellite speakers), are designed for background music applications. The SUB/SAT models boost the LF at lower volumes, to compensate for the human ear’s reduced sensitivity to bass. They are available in surface-mounted, pendant and ceiling versions, in black and white, which can be mixed and matched in any combination. All the satellites use the same 16-ohm 2.5in driver, with a central aluminium dome for extended HF response. The subs can operate in high and low Z, and all have the same 6.5in dual voice coil driver; on the surface sub, these can operate in either mono or stereo.

Available: Various dates, autumn to winter www.qsc.com

44 TECHNOLOGY: NEW PRODUCTS Biamp Tesira EX-UBT Designed for use in Tesira systems, this AVB expander provides a reliable digital audio interface for installations requiring longer USB connections than the spec-defined maximum distance of 5m from a rack or other equipment.

Supporting PoE, it can transport up to eight channels of USB digital audio through a network, and also supports Bluetooth wireless technology for teleconferencing with soft codecs, continuing a mobile phone call into a meeting room, or supplying background music. www.biamp.com Christie CP2315-RGB

Matrox Maevex 6020 Remote Recorder It’s… a media capture appliance offering broadcast-quality video recording and streaming at an affordable price point.

What’s new? It’s purpose-built for the Panopto video platform, and has been developed jointly with, and certified by, Panopto.

Details: This is a compact, ‘whisper-quiet’,

Billed as the cinema industry’s first affordable RGB pure laser projector, this is a 2K version of Christie’s CP4325-RGB RealLaser model, which launched in March. RealLaser projectors have a compact ‘all-in-one’ form factor with no sub-ambient external cooling. Christie’s RGB projectors use next-generation pure red-green-blue direct-emitting laser technology to deliver bold, vibrant colours and “an unequalled, authentic and immersive cinema experience”. The CP2315-RGB is a 12,000-lumen model; the 18,000lumen CP2320-RGB was launched at the same time. www.christieemea.com

low-power device, aimed at businesses and universities that are looking to provide video recording and streaming in more rooms. It has been designed to be easy to install, take up minimal space in the room, and have no extraneous features.

Once connected to a network with suitable source devices, it can capture live and on-demand video: a web-based dashboard enables the scheduling of video recordings and live broadcasts from anywhere. It supports the

Peerless-AV Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Display

Datapath

These 2,500-nit displays are designed to be daylight readable in any outdoor signage application.

Robust and durable, they are IP68 rated, feature IK10 rated impact resistant cover glass and a very wide working temperature range (-35˚C to +60˚C) thanks to a patented Dynamic Thermal Transfer system. IR control lockout and button board lockout enable secure installations, and the displays can be monitored locally or remotely. Available in 43in, 49in, 55in, and 65in models. www.peerless-av.com Panasonic SQ1 Complementing the entrylevel EQ1 range introduced at ISE 2018, SQ1 series displays come in 86in and 98in models with 500 nits brightness. Designed for 24/7 operation, they are targeted at digital signage applications – either selfcontained or networked – and corporate, classroom and retail environments. The integrated Intel Smart Display Module (SDM) is said to simplify interface integration, signage installations and platform management. It offers similar capabilities to Intel’s OPS but in a slimmer form factor. http://business.panasonic.eu

July/August 2018

scheduling of one-time and recurring events, remote configuration of recording devices, and previews of video feeds and audio histograms.

Users can also control, schedule and monitor recordings from their phone using the Remote Control capability in Panopto for iOS and Android.

All videos captured by the Maevex 6020 are automatically published to Panopto’s video content management system, where they’re encoded for on-demand playback on any device.

Additionally, Panopto’s Smart Search technology enables users to search inside videos and fastforward to any word spoken or shown.

Recordings can be started, stopped and paused with simple one-touch controls.

Available: Autumn www.matrox.com/graphics

iolite 12i It’s… a compact wall controller that can drive up to 12 HDMI screens in its stock configuration at HD 1080p.

What’s new? It’s suitable for smaller videowall installations requiring a compact, quiet controller that still offers a degree of flexibility and configuration.

Details: The Windows-based iolite 12i can drive up to 12 HDMI screens at HD 1080p, giving it the capability to offer a wide range of display options – such as 3 x 2 videowalls for a boardroom, a welcome screen and TV wall for a reception area or a dozen menu boards in a restaurant. Video can come from a range of sources, including media players, TV set-top boxes, IP cameras and online or local media.

It’s designed specifically for environments that require very low noise levels, or where space is at a premium. It’s unobtrusive enough

for an office environment, but also includes a rackmount kit for installing the 2U chassis in a server room.

The controller sports 12 HDMI outputs and three 4K DisplayPort outputs. Two x4 Gen.3 PCIe slots can be populated with various Datapath capture cards or SQX IP decode cards to meet specific needs. The standard version is fitted with an Intel Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD hard drive and 8GB RAM. Higher HDD drive capacity, increased memory (up to 16GB) and Intel Core i7 processor are all upgrade options.

Available: Now www.datapath.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY: NEW PRODUCTS 45

www.installation-international.com

Polycom

tvONE HD-One

Polycom Zoom Rooms It’s… a choice of three packages covering huddle rooms to large meeting rooms.

What’s new? The Polycom Trio phone can now run the Zoom controller user interface natively, creating a full Zoom Room experience on Polycom hardware.

Details: Polycom says that it is responding to customer demand to combine Polycom’s in-room experience with the simplicity and flexibility of the Zoom video communications platform. It has announced three bundles covering different sizes of room.

The huddle room package is the Polycom Trio 8500 Zoom Room; this includes the Trio 8500 conference phone, the new Eagle Eye Mini camera, and a Dell OptiPlex desktop PC. The Trio becomes a USB device acting as Zoom Room and Meeting controller, speaker and microphone.

Its 5in colour touch display provides Zoom in-meeting controls.

Moving up the range, the mid-sized conference room offering is the Trio 8500 Plus Zoom Room bundle, which upgrades the camera to the powerful EagleEye IV MPTZ HD video camera.

Finally, the Trio 8800 Zoom Room is designed for large conference rooms. This includes the more powerful Polycom Trio 8800 phone along with EagleEye IV MPTZ HD camera and Dell OptiPlex. The Trio 8800 has speakers designed to deliver clear, rich audio in larger rooms.

Available: Later this year (specifications may be subject to change) www.polycom.com

VUE Audiotechnik e-351 This compact, moisture-resistant Nano Coaxial Cube speaker, just 10.9cm x 10.9cm x 10.4cm, achieves peak SPL above 112dB at 1m, with a range from 120Hz to well above the range of human hearing (27kHz). It features a 3.5in woofer that combines a large, hightemperature voice coil with a neodymium magnet assembly; this is fused with a custom-designed beryllium-infused 1in compression tweeter.

Drivers and precision-engineered passive crossover are housed in a rigid die-cast aluminium enclosure that also works as a highly efficient heatsink for onboard components. www.vueaudio.com Contacta V14

ClearOne

The latest addition to the V-Series, this hearing loop driver works with loops up to 300m long, making it suitable for meeting rooms, lecture theatres and waiting rooms. It has a Class D amplifier output stage, an audio subsystem built around an advanced DSP core, and a powerful CPU – to achieve lifelike speech and first-class music reproduction. Installation is simplified by a scroll wheel for adjusting the loop parameters, and Euroblock connectors. It has integrated protection circuits with temperature, voltage, short circuit and DC detection. www.contacta.co.uk

VIEW Lite It’s… an AV-over-IP streaming solution.

What’s new? It’s a more affordable, cut-down version of the company’s existing VIEW and VIEW Pro lines.

Details: VIEW Lite provides live AV-over-IP streaming in a dedicated IP network that does not require videowalls, composition or other advanced functionality. The package comprises an encoder (EJ100), decoder (DJ100) and controller (CJ100). Together these deliver fullscreen single-image video using the JPEG2000 codec. Quoted latency is around 1.5 frames end to end, glass to glass. Resolutions of 4K60 with 4:2:0 colour space, or 4K30 and 1080p60 with 4:4:4, are supported.

HDCP for protected content is supported. The units can be powered via PoE or with a DC power supply. Easy-to-use PC software is supplied for configuring and setting up the system through the controller unit.

This wall plate transmitter enables switching and extension for HDMI (up to 4K) and VGA (up to 1080p) signals. The MG-WP611-EU extends HD up to 70m and 4K up to 40m. It can be powered locally or by the MG-CT612 receiver (coming soon) with integrated Power over HDBaseT (PoH). Additionally, the wall plate delivers full uncompressed HD video 3D and 4K x 2K, RS-232 and IR while supporting VESA resolutions up to 1,920 x 1,200@60Hz and HDTV resolutions up to 1080p. (North American version also available.) www.tvone.com

disguise solo

ClearOne states that VIEW Lite delivers a superb price-to-performance ratio while meeting the needs of simple AV-over-IP streaming applications.

Available: August www.clearone.com

The solo is billed as bringing the power of the disguise (formerly d3 Technologies) solution to smaller productions and experiences within theatre, fixed installs, studio set-ups and smaller venues. It can be used as a standalone solution or as a master in a larger network with disguise pro and gx range machines. The 2RU base units can be customised with HDMI and SDI capture, pro audio and 10GB Ethernet ports, 4K outputs, fixed storage, 2TB SSD and full redundant capabilities. www.disguise.one/solo

46 TECHNOLOGY: SHOWCASE

July/August 2018

Short-throw projectors Short-throw (and ultra-short-throw) projectors have the obvious benefit of keeping people out of the beam, avoiding casting shadows on the screen and dazzling the person presenting. But what other benefits can they offer? We asked half a dozen manufacturers for thoughts on one of their short-throw models

Casio competes on TCO Targeted at education and corporate applications, the three models in Casio’s Ultra Short Throw series are the XJ-UT310WN, XJ-UT311WN and XJ- UT351WN. With laser-LED light sources, the three WXGA projectors, offer brightness of 3,100 or 3,500 ANSI lumens and a contrast ratio of 1,800:1 or 2,000:1.

Because of their lamp-free technology, start-up is quick, operation is quiet, power consumption is low and the estimated lifetime is 20,000 hours. Full brightness is reached just five seconds after switching on. Maintenance is minimal as there are no replacement parts and the filter is designed for lifetime use.

Casio offers a five-year, 10,000-hour warranty, which allows customers to manage their budgets for longer and increase their return on investment. The company says its low total cost of ownership leads the industry.

With a throw ratio of 0.28:1, Casio UST projectors can be mounted close to the wall and can project a 60in screen image from a distance of just 13cm. Screen images from 50in to 100in or 110in (depending on model) can be produced.

Software in the projectors provides compatibility with Crestron’s RoomView Express. This allows AV managers to control up to 25 AV devices with a point-and-click interface from any room.

NEC offers interactivity and 3D capability NEC says that its U321H projector delivers perfect image quality for very detailed content; because it offers HDMI 3D support, it can display 3D content from Blu-ray players with ease.

The full HD projector is aimed at corporate meeting rooms and higher education applications such as engineering and design.

Thanks to its ultra-short throw ratio of 0.25:1, there are almost no shadows or glare.

Brightness is 3,200 ANSI lumens, and the quoted contrast ratio is 10,000:1.

The company says the projector, which is small, neat and compact, is a very affordable alternative to large format displays – especially if a screen size larger than 90in is required, which is often the case for meeting rooms that hold more than 10 participants. This model can project onto screens ranging from 85in to 100in.

For applications requiring interactivity, there are options to add multi-pen or multitouch functionality. DisplayNote collaboration software, which extends interactivity onto tablets for presenters and/or participants, is

available as an option.

This is a lamp-based projector; quoted lamp life is 3,000 hours (or 4,000 in Eco mode).

www.nec-display-solutions.com

www.casio-europe.com

Ricoh: on in three seconds Among Ricoh’s short-throw projectors are the PJ XL4540 and PJ WXL4540 laser DLP models. These provide 3,000 lumens at XGA resolution and 3,200 lumens at WXGA respectively. Contrast ratio for both models is 13,000:1, and they feature light weight (less than 6kg) and a small footprint (8.5cm x 38cm x 31 cm). Power consumption is low: 285W during standard operation, 185W in Energy Saver mode and just 0.5W in standby mode.

The WXGA model can project from 0.78m to 1.12m onto screens ranging from 69.4in to 100in.

The XGA’s range is slightly wider: 0.71m to 1.25m, and screens from 56.4in to 100in.

The instant-on feature produces a full-brightness image after three seconds – a valuable time saving in both education and corporate environments.

www.ricoh-europe.com

TECHNOLOGY: SHOWCASE

www.installation-international.com

47

Barco offers short throw for large venues Projectors from Barco’s UDX range can be used in ultra-short-throw applications with the use of the TLD+ lens. The 3-chip DLP projector is targeted at large-venue fixed installations and events.

With the all-glass TLD+ lens, throw ratio (the ratio of projector-to-screen distance to diagonal size of image) is 0.40:1 if a fixed lens is used, or 0.67-0.88:1 with a zoom lens. The lens produces an undistorted image, so there is no need for warping to correct the image on a flat surface.

Flexibility of installation is aided by lens shift of up to 30%, as well as 90º lens rotation – so the projector can beam forwards or sideways, in landscape or portrait, from the ceiling or the floor.

To increase brightness or to provide redundancy, multiple projectors may be stacked. Additionally, the position of the lens on the projector is such that projecting through the exhaust heat is avoided.

The five models in the range offer brightness

from 21,000 to 32,000 lumens; UXGA, WUXGA and WQUXGA (3,840 x 2,400) resolutions; and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio across the range.

Barco says that UDX projectors are the most compact high-brightness laser models available, and they offer unmatched colours that outperform Rec.709 at full brightness.

www.barco.com

Panasonic model adjusts for bright rooms

Panasonic’s compact projector series, relaunched last year, includes the short throw PT-TW351R model, for school and meeting-room applications.

When run in ECO Mode, this WXGA lampbased projector can operate for 10,000 hours maintenance-free. It offers quiet operation, producing just 28dB. The projector produces 3,300 lumens brightness with a 16,000:1 contrast ratio. The Daylight View Lite feature uses information from sensors to increase the colour and brightness of the image when projecting in bright ambient light. The feature can be readily accessed from the remote control.

The projector can be made interactive with the addition of the optional interactive pen or

Panasonic whiteboard software. Notes can be made on the projection surface and stored and shared afterwards. Light Pen 3 software supports the use of two pens at once, in either split-screen or full-screen mode.

The PT-TW351R has a throw ratio of 0.46:1: it is capable of producing an 80in image from a distance of 75cm.

While this model has a fixed lens, Panasonic also produces a range of short-throw projection lenses that can be attached to a wide range of its projectors, including 1-chip and 3-chip DLP models.

Gallery-standard colour from Vivitek Vivitek recommends its DH768Z-UST single-chip DLP projector for museum or gallery installations, where a projection of a painting or other artwork needs to be rendered in its true colours. It considers the projector’s colour accuracy – it offers the full Rec.709 colour space – to be “class-leading”.

Part of Vivitek’s D760Z Series, the WXGA resolution DH768Z-UST is said to combine compact dimensions (51cm x 39cm x 15cm), high performance and value for money.

The laser phosphor light engine provides 3,100 ANSI lumens of brightness and a 12,000:1 contrast ratio.

Its ultra-short throw projector design features an embedded reflective mirror, which gives it a throw ratio of 0.23:1. This enables an 80-150in diagonal image to be beamed from just 40cm away from the screen. This extreme closeness to the projection surface also eliminates any shadowing from people standing close to the screen.

https://business.panasonic.eu/ www.vivitek.eu

48 TECHNOLOGY: DEMO OF THE MONTH

July/August 2018

The O2 – chapter two The O2, the world’s highest-grossing music venue, has upgraded its audio system, which also has PA-VA functionality. Paddy Baker got a chance to listen to the system, based around Bose ShowMatch line arrays

E

ddie Thomas jocularly calls The O2 “my home since 1998” – having been involved in audio at the east London venue since its original incarnation as the Millennium Dome. At the end of June, Thomas, technical specialist at SSE Audio Group, presented The O2’s new PA system at a press and customer event. It’s an upgrade to the system that he installed in 2006, ahead of the opening of The O2.

The replacement decision came about following a 10-year equipment lifecycle exercise carried out with venue operator AEG. This looked to replace key items and provide a system that will last for another 10 years. SSE and AEG looked at current and upcoming technology in the areas of networks, amplification, speakers and operational suitability – particularly the ability to provide bespoke GUIs for security, event control, engineering control and fault reporting. “Primarily this is a life safety system – public address and voice alarm – it just happens to do production as well,” commented Thomas.

He also wanted to integrate everything onto a single platform. It was decided to base the system on a QSC Q-SYS network on a Dante network, with Crown amplifiers (DCi4|1250DA and DCi8|600DA models for low- and highfrequency elements respectively) and Bose Professional line arrays. RoomMatch was the original choice, but on hearing a demo of the company’s ShowMatch speakers (also part of the DeltaQ array range), Thomas felt they were a better fit for the venue, and held off on the project until they became available. Bose and SSE worked together to use Bose Modeler software to design the system for The O2.

There are two Q-SYS Core 3100i processors, each with its own fibre network and dedicated equipment racks in separate locations. Every rack

has A and B network switches. “So in the event of an incident in one part of the building, it doesn’t compromise the operation of the PA-VA system,” commented Thomas. “We could lose quite a bit of the network without it affecting performance of the voice alarm system.” Q-SYS I/O frames provide the contact and fire alarm interface I/O. SSE worked with Crown parent Harman to develop a software plugin that extracts key HiQnet data from the amplifiers and passes it to the Q-SYS platform. This includes essential data for a PA-VA system, such as fault reporting, signal path monitoring and amplifier condition.

Circular cluster Because the venue hosts both conventionally staged and in-the-round events, the heart of the Bose install is a circular truss mounted with eight clusters of eight ShowMatch speakers, high above the centre of the venue. Bose Auditioner software was used to produce an auralisation of the system at multiple positions in the arena.

This circular cluster is designed to cover all of the tiered seating, although the upper levels are enhanced with four clusters of eight ShowMatch cabinets each. (It does not cover the floor level – generally, this function is carried out by visiting productions’ own touring rigs.)

Additionally, the low end is boosted by a total of 24 RMS218 (2 x 18in) subwoofer cabinets in six vertical roof-mounted hangs. Unlike the circular cluster, these are powered by Bose PM8500 amplifiers, with DSP deployed to control lowfrequency steering.

To give us a feeling of the tonality of the Bose ShowMatch range at floor levels, a single hang of 10 ShowMatch cabinets, topped with two SMS118 (1 x 18in) subwoofers, was set up specifically for this event to mimic a stage system.

Moving around Listening to these different system elements took some moving around the 20,000-capacity venue.

We started at floor level, listening to the broughtin hang. We then moved up to Level 4 to listen to the delay speakers, and then most of the way back down again to the first few rows of seating.

Overall, the experience was good. The temporary stage hang gave a powerful but detailed rendition of AC-DC’s Back in Black, with fairly even coverage as one moved from the front to the back of the space. Up at Level 4, we listened to a piano-led song with a female vocal, and Back in Black again – with more bass evident than when we were listening to the stage hang only. The sound from the delay speakers was cut out temporarily so we could tell exactly how synchronised their sound was with the main stage system – and they were spot on, despite the sound leaving the latter speakers 105ms (we were told) before the delays.

The least good sound experience was listening to the circular cluster itself, in the lower rows of seating. While the tonality was just as good as before, there was more booming in the bass, something that was particularly noticeable in some slower tracks where less was happening.

However, this is to be expected in a venue of this size, and likely to be significantly reduced when thousands of people are occupying the seating.

Reverberation issues aside, the sound quality was good, with clear and crisp reproduction across a variety of musical styles and singing voices.

As befits the highest-grossing venue in the world, The O2 can be confident that its audiences can enjoy premium-level sound for the next decade.

http://pro.bose.com

50 LAST WORD: ALBERT VAN DER HOUT, 4EVAC

July/August 2018

Extreme ways Albert Van Der Hout of 4EVAC details the changes in PA-VA systems that now sees smaller and sleeker kit provide higher levels of control and zoned messaging as part of comprehensive VACIE systems

W

hen I started in this market, public address (PA) and voice alarm (VA) for the safety of public buildings and common areas were still in their early days of development.

The technology was also, in many respects, quite basic and low quality. Although digital technology, computer control and automation were coming in during the early to mid 1990s, 100V line systems still accounted for a large proportion of PA-VA installations. These were large, cumbersome set-ups that needed a dedicated apparatus room to house several 19in racks containing amplifiers and processors. I began to realise that the future lay in reducing the amount of installed equipment, while at the same time ensuring that what was put in offered more in terms of features, quality and efficiency.

Since then the technology has developed to produce smaller units that do everything – and more – than those big racked systems could.

‘Any emergency voice installation has to be able to withstand extremes and continue distributing the necessary information’

Keep it simple The job of a VA system is relatively basic: to give instructions to people with the aim of keeping them safe or, in the most extreme scenario, helping them escape a dangerous situation.

Voice messaging – either broadcast live or from a store of pre-recorded messages – is the best way to do this because announcements give vital information and do not alarm people as much as an old fashioned fire bell. The message storage and play-out device has developed over the years due to advances in computer memory and circuit miniaturisation. Technology has allowed more functionality to be added, including routing and monitoring of audio tracks, so that only the areas that need to be addressed actually receive the messages. Making this happen is not necessarily straightforward but the concept is a simple one, which should be the guiding thought during the design stages of a project.

Equipment should be recognisable and

easily understood, but do more than what went before. For instance, the 4EVAC Compact 500 is a traditional-looking wall-mounted box with a fireman’s microphone, but behind that is a series of distributed amplifiers. It can be used as a single, standalone unit or part of a larger installation with several boxes working on a network. Each box is able to deliver two ‘live stream’ audio channels plus a serial data channel, which conforms to the Electronics Industry Association RS485 standard for data communications. The streams are carried over a redundant global network loop to any zones that have been created. The Compact 500 is able to transmit six different audio streams into local zones at the same time. These announcements are sourced from a six-channel message player that produces synchronised audio.

VACIE for all Voice alarm and evacuation systems have continued to evolve, to the point where we now have a more comprehensive style of emergency communications. VACIE stands for voice alarm control and indicating equipment; as that term implies, there is now more involved than playing out or broadcasting announcements.

Modern systems have a greater degree of control, allowing specific messages to be sent to selected zones only. These operations can be fully monitored by the unit, along with how the system is performing.

But this higher level of functionality does not mean VACIE systems are solely the preserve of big installations. Any building or space where the wellbeing of members of the public and staff has to be ensured should offer some form of VACIE capability, regardless of size.

VACIE systems have to keep working under the most demanding and dangerous conditions, often caused by fire and the water used to put it out. Any emergency voice installation has to be able to withstand such extremes and continue distributing the necessary information even if some parts of the system are damaged. This was the thinking behind 4EVAC’s first product, the LoopDrive Fault Isolator Module (FIM).

The FIM was 4EVAC’s first product and with it we intended to tackle the fundamental challenge of VA-PA: how to keep vital

electrical equipment working under extreme and often hostile conditions. It is based on the return-loop principle; modules are placed between groups of loudspeakers on a loop, meaning that if there is a short or other fault between any two isolators in the chain, both will switch immediately to open circuit status. That isolates the faulty loudspeakers in between but allows other isolators on the system, loudspeakers on the loop and T-branch speakers of the FIMs that have been activated to carry on operating as normal.

This level of automated device detection will continue to isolate any affected sections and re-route the network, if necessary, to keep announcements being transmitted right up until the final call.

We are in business to develop and sell technology but it is technology that is designed to protect people and save lives. That is the most important thing.

Albert Van Der Hout is business development director at 4EVAC

www.4evac.com

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